Skip to main content

Full text of "Computerworld"

See other formats 


NEWSPAPER 


From  the 
Mouths 
Of  Babes 


By  Melina  Boey 

Did  you  know  that  a  lady  keypunch  operator  for 
computers  has  to  make  real  sure  her  holes  are  in 
the  right  spots,  otherwise  the  computerman  will 
not  get  it? 

Or  that  the  very  first  modern  computer  was  built 
in  the  Dark  Ages  of  1930,  in  either  the  A.D.  or 
M.D.  times  of  history? 

I  didn’t  know  these  facts  either  -  until  I  ran 
across  these  gems  in  my  former  elementary  school 
children’s  reports.  They  were  delivered  to  me  in  all 
earnestness  when  the  children  were  doing  some 
elementary  research  on  computers. 

During  my  10  years  teaching  kids  in  the  fifth  and 
sixth  grades  in  New  York  City,  I’ve  had  ample 
opportunity  to  record  some  of  my  flock’s  class¬ 
room  boners. 

For  those  engaged  in  the  computer  industry,  I 


offer  them  to  you,  knowing  you’ll  have  your  fancy 
tickled: 

"If  you  Uke  to  fool  around  with  Figures  alot 
become  a  design  engineer.  My  Uncle  Henry  is  one, 
and  he  fools  around  alot  with  figures.” 

“A  computer  operator  puts  information  into  a 
computer  in  two  ways  -  by  punched  cards  and  by 
tapes.  In  the  end  it  comes  out  like  six  of  one  and 
one  for  all.” 

‘The  programmer  can’t  even  make  one  teeney- 
weeney  mistake,  when  he  feeds  the  computer.  If 
he  does,  it  can  spell  a  sure  Miss  Fortune.” 

“If  it  wasn’t  for  the  ticnickle  artist  and  the 
ticnickle  writer  who  tell  you  and  show  you  how  to 
work  it,  you  would  really  be  in  a  pickle.” 

Quite  often  in  the  classroom,  children  have  a  way 
of  allowing  the  teacher  to  think  that  they  have 
absorbed  new  learning.  But,  alas,  the  teacher  learns 
(Continued  on  Page  4) 


COMPUTERWORLD 

THE  NEWSWEEKLY  FOR  THE  COMPUTER  COMMUNITY 


Weekly  Newspaper 


Second-class  postage  paid  at  Boston,  Mass.,  and  additional  mailing  offices 


Vol.  IX,  No.  26 


Jury  Out  in  Landmark  User-IBM  Unbundling  Suit 


By  Molly  Upton 

PROVIDENCE, WRCr-One  of  the  first 
user  suits  against  IBM  to  complete  a  trial 
is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  jury. 

After  55  days  of  testimony  here,  the 
jury  will  now  have  to  decide  whether  IBM 
fraudulently  misled  Catamore  Enter¬ 
prises,  Inc.  -  and,  by  implication,  other 
users  -  by  unbundling  in  1969. 

The  case  went  to  the  jury  last  week 


after  Judge  Raymond  J.  Pettini 


fered  his  services  to  effect  a  negotiated 
settlement  and  after  he  had  urged  both 
parties  to  consider  such  an  action. 

Pettine  noted  that  the  Pandora’s  box  of 
possible  future  lawsuits  against  IBM  on 
similar  grounds  by  dissatisfied  customers 
“is  going  to  be  opened  up  whether  they 
(IBM ]  win  or  lose  this  case;  whether  they 
settle  or  they  don’t  settle  this  case. 

“I  don’t  think  that  any  other  clients  are 
refrain  because  they 


Pettine  told  the  attorneys  “if  there  ever 
was  a  case  which,  in  my  opinion,  the 
parties  should  seriously  negotiate,  I  think 
this  is  the  case  where  they  ought  to  do 
it .  .  .but  you  should  have  a  bottom-line 
figure  of  around  $1 .5  million." 

He  admitted  the  stakes  are  high  on  both 
sides.  On  the  one  hand,  the  jury  could 
find  in  favor  of  Catamore  for  anywhere 
from  $12  million  to  $30  million,  he 


d  of-  and-so  lost  tt 


”  Pettine  said. 


Vendors  Claim  IBM  Bias  in  Arkansas  Bid 


LITTLE  ROCK,  Ark.  -  Controversy  is 
surrounding  the  equipment  procurement 
for  this  state’s  Information  Systems  Han, 
in  which  IBM  is  the  sole  remaining  bid¬ 
der. 

Four  other  mainframers  have  dropped 
out  of  contention  for  the  contract,  charg¬ 
ing  favoritism 


370/1 58  well  before  the  requests  for  pro¬ 
posals  (RFP)  went  out  on  the  Informa¬ 
tion  Systems  Plan,  they  said. 

Two  IBM  consultants,  working  at  no 
charge  to  the  state,  helped  Arkansas  In¬ 
formation  Systems  Executive  Committee 
(Isec)  officials  with  information  systems 
methodology  for  an  eight-month  stretch 
before  the  RFP  went  out,  the  vendors 


’s  central  DP  shop  reserved  a  The  RFP  was  weighted  toward  IBM,  and 

Possible  Vote-Tabulation  Fraud 
Charged  by  Defeated  Candidate 


ByN 


EL  PASO,  Texas  -  A  defeated  mayoral 
candidate  is  claiming  possible  fraud  in  the 
computer  tabulation  of  votes  cast  in  this 
city's  April  15  mayoral  election  and  will 
ask  for  a  recount  of  the  60,000  ballots. 

The  claim  will  be  presented  in  federal 
court  here  by  Woodrow  W.  Bean,  de¬ 
feated  in  his  bid  for  the  mayor’s  job  by 
3,000  votes  in  an  election  conducted  with 
polling  equipment  and  software  from 
Computer  Election  Systems  (CES)  of 
Berkeley,  Calif. 

Bean's  claim  is  based  on  the  findings  of 
Jerry  Schneider,  a  computer  security  spe¬ 
cialist  with  Jerry  Schneider  and  Co.,  Inc., 
a  Los  Angeles-based  firm  specializing  in 
computer  fraud  investigation  and  consult- 


junction  that  would  require  the  city  of  El 
Paso  to  retain  the  actual  ballots  used  in 
the  election.  At  the  same  time.  Bean  will 
ask  for  a  recount. 

In  the  affidavit,  Bean  contended  that 
“an  identical  sequence  of  integers  was 
observed  in  eight  precincts  -  a  situation 
that  could  occur  only  once  in  10,000 


in  any  way 


In  addition,  results  did 
resemble  voting  patterns  i 
the  past  1 0  years,  he  said. 

The  evidence  was  generated  from  a  sta¬ 
tistical  analysis  of  returns  performed  by 
an  “expert”  statistician  hired  by 
Schneider's  firm. 

Schneider  said  the  returns  show  “a  high 
probability  that  an  error,  omission  or 
technical  defalcation  occurred  in  the 
tabulation  of  votes  in  the  election  ...  and 
that  this  could  be  the  first  clear  case  of 
(Continued  on  Page  4) 


the  benchmark  made  use  of  programs 
already  running  on  the  state’s  IBM  ma¬ 
chines,  the  vendors  added. 

The  Information  Systems  Plan  calls  for 
updating  many  current  state  systems  into 
data  base  technology  and  adding  new 
systems.  Univac,  for  one,  complained  of  a 
lack  of  time  to  prepare  a  representative 

“In  my  opinion,  108  days  to  design  and 
implement  four  data  base  systems  [in  a 
benchmark]  is  unreasonable,”  Don  Elli- 
sor,  Univac’s  local  representative  said. 
Univac  had  been  the  only  vendor  other 
than  IBM  to  actually  bid  on  the  contract, 
but  decided  not  to  spend  an  estimated 
$700,000  needed  for  it  to  run  the  bench¬ 
mark. 

The  1110  multiprocessor  system  Univac 
had  bid  would  cost  about  $125 ,000/mo, 
or  $60,000/mo  less  than  IBM’s  proposal, 
EUisor  said.  Univac's  purchase  price  was 
$6.9  million  compared  with  $8.3  million 
for  IBM,  he  said.  However,  an  Isec  official 
said  the  IBM  and  Univac  proposals  were 

“We  had  indications  from  the  selection 
committee  that,  even  if  we  were  success¬ 
ful,  we  wouldn't  get  the  business,"  EUisor 
said. 

Sentiments  Echoed 

Dr.  Morris  Smith,  a  former  member  of 
the  Isec  selection  committee,  echoed 
those  sentiments.  The  selection  group 
“was  pretty  much  loaded  with  people 
who  were  already  working  with  IBM 
equipment  and  were  biased  in  that  dircc- 


,’’  he  sa 
“They  h 


c  IBM  equipment  nc 
(Continued  on  Page  8) 


On  the  other  hand,  Catamore  could 
wind  up  paying  IBM  $68,453.23  plus 
costs  and  interest.  That  is  how  much  IBM 
claims  Catamore  owes  it  in  unpaid  rent. 

During  a  long  day  of  final  arguments, 
the  attorneys  took  advantage  of  no  inter¬ 
ruptions  from  the  bench  and  their  free¬ 
dom  to  present,  in  their  words,  the  evi¬ 
dence  that  had  been  elicited  in  the  court¬ 
room  during  the  previous  three  months. 

Catamore’s  lead  attorney,  Thomas  K. 
Christo,  came  close  to  teUing  the  jury 
that,  if  it  didn’t  find  in  favor  of  Cata¬ 
more,  justice  wouldn’t  be  done  because 
IBM  and  other  similarly  large  corpora¬ 
tions  would  still  be  at  liberty  to  be 
outside  the  law. 

Noting  “this  is  the  beginning  of  a  Water¬ 
gate  for  a  large  American  corporation, 
which  wUl  alert  every  chairman  of  the 
board  (he|  cannot  step  outside  the  law," 
Christo  told  the  jury  the  small  business¬ 
man  does  live  by  ethics,  by  rules. 

“The  question  we  have  been  asking  is 
why  the  powerful  and  elite  should  be  able 
to  live  outside  the  law,"  he  said. 

His  thesis,  he  contended,  was  not  that 
bigness  is  bad,  but  “large  corporations 
should  not  be  allowed  to  make  revenue 
(Continued  on  Page  4) 

IBM  Satellite  Plan 
Expected  in  iO  Days 

By  Molly  Upton 

WASHINGTON,  DC  IBM  plans  to 
announce  within  60  days  how  it  intends 
to  gain  entrance  into  the  domestic  satel- 

A  letter  to  the  Federal  Communications 
Commission  (FCC)  on  behalf  of  the  joint 
petitioners  IBM,  Comsat,  Comsat  Gen¬ 
eral  and  C'ML  Satellite  Corp.  -  indicated 
they  have  elected  to  proceed  under  the 
“balanced  CML"  option  outlined  by  the 

In  the  letter,  the  petitioners  said  Comsat 
General  and  IBM  have  begun  holding 
preliminary  discussions  with  an  additional 
partner  or  partners  that  will  hold  not  less 
than  a  10%  ownership  interest  in  CML. 

IBM  would  not  reveal  the  identity  of 
the  prospective  partner  or  partners. 
“We’re  not  going  to  discuss  publicly  who 
(Continued  on  Page  2) 


EH?  COMPUTERWORLD 


Info/ Expo  Sets  70  Sessions  Next  Week 


sociation’s  (DPMA)  conference  to  be  held 
here  June  29  to  July  2. 

The  conference  will  feature  Dr.  Herbert 
R.J.  Grosch,  editorial  director  of  Com- 
puterworld,  as  keynote  speaker  and 
George  Glaser,  president  of  the  American 


evefopment,  10  on  personal 


IBM  Expected  to  Announce  Plans 
For  Satellite  Entry  in  60  Days 


Tlykn  Repo  its/ Pro¬ 
fessional  Practices  , 


SALES 

Vice-President/ 

Marketing  T.  Neal  Wilde 

Sales  Administrator  Dorothy  Trav 

Traffic  Manager  Judy  Milford 

Classified  Advertising  Sara  Steets 

Market  Research  Kathryn  V.  D 


(Continued  from  Page  1) 
we  may  or  may  not  be  talking  to,"  an 
IBM  spokesman  said. 

But  rumors  are  currently  circulating 
that  Southern  Pacific  Communications 
Co.  and/or  U.S.  Transmission  Systems,  an 
ITT  subsidiary,  may  join  IBM  in  CML. 

The  petitioners  expect  to  file  a  com¬ 
plete  proposal  with  the  FCC  within  the 
next  60  days,  according  to  the  letter. 

The  proposal  will  consist  of  an  “applica¬ 
tion  by  CML  for  authority  to  establish 
and  operate  a  domestic  satellite  com¬ 
munications  system  and  will  specify  the 
joint  petitioners'  intercorporate  relation¬ 
ships,  business  plans  and  system  design 
which  we  believe  the  commission  will 
find  to  be  compatible  with  its  policies  for 
domestic  satellite  communications. 

“Upon  approval  by  the  commission  of 
the  CML  applications,  without  any  condi¬ 
tions  which  any  of  the  joint  petitioners 
believes  to  be  materially  adverse  to  it  or 
to  CML,  the  joint  petitioners  would  ex¬ 


pect  to  proceed  with  the  inaugur 


communications  and  data  processing  in¬ 
dustries,  as  well  as  the  Justice  Depart¬ 
ment,  Tiled  complaints  regarding  the  pro- 

The  commission  did,  however,  outline 
other  possible  alternatives  under  which  it 
would  consider  a  proposal.  Comsat  Gen¬ 
eral  and/or  IBM  could  enter  alone,  or 
Comsat  General  could  select  a  partner 
other  than  IBM. 

Comsat  General  could  provide  a  space 
segment  to  IBM  under  an  arrangement 
similar  to  the  one  Comsat  General  has 
with  AT&T,  the  commission  said.  If  it 
did,  Comsat  General  would  have  to 
choose  between  either  a  provision  of 
space  segments  under  a  contract  basis  or  a 
provision  of  common  carrier  services  to 
the  public. 

Under  the  approach  selected  by  the 
joint  participants,  however,  Comsat  Gen¬ 
eral  and  IBM  will  remain  partners  in  CML 
and  acquire,  as  required  by  the  FCC,  one 
or  more  partners,  with  no  partner  owning 
less  than  10%  or  more  than  49%  of  CML 
Satellite  Corp.  or  otherwise  being  in  a 
“ion  in  which  it  could  exercise  de 


growth,  10  on  technical  subjects  and  10 
special  or  repeat  sessions.  Each  will  last 
1-1/2  hours. 

Also  included  will  be  20  product/service 
orientation  sessions,  each  lasting  40  min¬ 
utes,  in  which  exhibitors  will  present 
concurrent  sessions  related  to  their  spe¬ 
cific  products  or  services. 

The  sessions  on  professional  manage¬ 
ment  will  cover  structured  programming, 
DP  management,  data  entry  systems, 
computer  graphics,  data  security,  dis¬ 
tributive  data  processing  and  computer 
output  microfilm. 

The  second  track  will  include  sessions 
on  the  cost  of  DP  services,  computer 
auditing,  measuring  the  costs  of  computer 

ments,  data  center  security,  data  base 
administration  and  estimating  project  and 
program  requirements. 

Panel  discussions  will  cover  multivendor 
installations  and  effective  management  of 

Technical  Sessions 

Technical  sessions  will  cover  software 
performance  measurement  techniques, 
computer  networks,  Cobol  source  pro¬ 
gram  optimization,  managing  computer 
programming  projects,  data  communica¬ 
tions  and  program  verification. 

Panel  discussions  will  be  held  on  point- 
of-sale  and  electronic  funds  transfer  sys¬ 
tems,  software  systems  maintenance,  on¬ 
line'  program  development  and  software 
package  evaluation. 

Personal  growth  sessions  will  include 
lectures  on  the  path  to  top  management, 
developing  effective  communication, 
profitability,  selling  ideas  to  management, 
improving  DP-user  relationships  and  man- 


11.  Phone:  36-40-36/37.  Telex:  5215350. 
Asia:  Computerworld,  c/o  Dempa/Com- 
puterworld  Company,  Dempa  Building, 
1-11-15,  Higashi  Gotanda  1-chome,  Shina- 
gawa-ku,  Tokyo  141.  Phone:  (03) 
445-6 101.  Telex:  26792. 


week  in  January)  by  Computerworld,  Inc., 
797  Wasliington  St,  Newton,  Maas.  02160. 
©  1975  by  Computerworld,  Inc.  All  rights 


Reproduction  of  material  appearing  in  Com- 
puterworld  is  strictly  forbidden  without 
written  permission.  Send  all  requests  to 
Walter  Boyd. 


ods)  through  University  Microfilm,  Peri¬ 
odical  Entry  Dept.,  300  Zeeb  Rd„  Ann 
Arbor.  Mich.  4*106.  Phone:  (313)  761-4700. 


Patrick  J.  McGovern 
W.  Walter  Boyd 
Margaret  Pheian 
T.  Neal  Wilder 
Dr.  H.RJ.  Grosch 


:  plan,  IBM  initially  would  tions  cannot  promote  the  : 


own  55%  of  CML’s  shares  and  Comsat 
General  the  remaining  45%. 

But  on  Feb.  6,  the  FCC  denied  the  joint 


ices,  directly  or  indirectly,  although  there 
could  be  an  exchange  of  technical  infor¬ 
mation  between  IBM  and  the  satellite 


registered,  with  at  least  five  n 


Further  information  on  the  conference 
can  be  obtained  from  Martin  H.  Bower- 
man,  Director  of  Programs  and  Services, 
DPMA  International,  505  Busse  Highway, 
Park  Ridge,  111.  60068. 


On  the  Inside  This  Week 


TERMINAL  TRANSACTIONS 


Economist  at  IBM  Trial  Explores  Principles  of  Monopoly  .  .5 

Sigcaph  Focusing  on  DPers  With  ‘Invisible  Handicap'  . 6 

More  Than  30  Schools  Offer  DP  Training  for  Deaf  . 7 

Delays  Hamper  Arizona  Hardware  Consolidation  Plan . 9 

Legal  Interpretation  of  Insurance  a  Constant  Problem _ 10 

Mitre  Achieves  Cost  Breakthrough  With  CAI  System . 11 

DPer  Gets  Grant  to  Make  Data  Theft  Expensive  . 31 

Mini  Turns  Matchmaker  for  23  Couples  at  Senior  Prom  . .  .32 


Editorial:  Setting  the  Record  Straight . 12 

White  Hat,  Black  Hat:  Checkup  Time  I  . 13 

Taylor  Report:  User  Spec  Problems  Can  Be  Handled . 13 

Considerations  of  Law  Vital  to  Systems  Design,  Use . 14 

SOFTWARE  &  SERVICES 

Students,  Staff  Savor  SPSS  Support . 15 

Free 'Debugger' Adds  No  Test  Overhead . 16 

■Oasis'  DBMS  for  Universities  Modified  for  360s . 17 


&abp 


SYSTEMS  &  PERIPHERALS 

Sigma  9, 1 BM  370  Pairing  Benefits  Firm  . 21 

Datapro  Finds  IBM -Equivalent  Disk  Drives  Please  Users  .  .22 
IBM  3330  Equivalents  Boost  360/65  Throughput  38%  . .  .24 

MINIWORLD 

Small  In-House  System  Saves  Hospital*  12,000  . 25 

College  Conferencing  Net  to  Cost  $2/Hour  per  CPU  . 27 

Mini  in  the  Pit  May  Be  Racer's  Edge  . 29 

COMPUTER  INDUSTRY 

Terminal  Mart  to  Gain  16%  Yearly:  ADL  . 33 

SDS  Confident  of  Profitability  as  Bookings  Increase  . ...  .34 

FASB  Limits  Deferrals  of  Development -Stage  Firms . 35 

Birth  of  DEC  Classic  Takas  Different  Path . .36 

MSP  Seat  US.  as  Prime  Market . 47 

IBM  Tops  DP  Makers  in  Fortune  500  Listing . 38 

FINANCIAL 


POSTMASTER:  Semi  Form  3579  (t 
at  Ad  drat)  to  Competcrworld  Circa 
Dept.,  797  WasMagSoa  St.,  Newton, 
chusetts  02160. 


1 1  CW  Special  Report  on  Minicomputers  and  Small  Systems  Follows  Pafe  24  ★ 


The  New 
MemorexData 
Already  a  Pron 
Performer 


The  new  Memorex  Data  Mark  Module  has  been  so  well 
received  in  the  marketplace  that  there  are  more  Data 
Marks  in  field  operation  than  those  of  all  the  independent 
competitors  combined. 

To  produce  a  reliable  product  like  Data  Mark  requires 
years  of  experience  in  manufacturing  digital  media, 
magnetic  recording  heads,  and  disc  drives.  Memorex’s  12 
years  of  experience  led  to  the  proprietary  formulation  and 
processing  techniques  for  the  recording  coat  of  Data 
Mark  that  makes  it  unique.  This  tough  ‘Tarmor  coat” 
significantly  extends  the  Data  Mark's  durability  and 
enables  it  to  withstand  increased  stress  of  head  landing. 

In  addition  to  the  armor-tough  recording  coat,  the 
Data  Mark  features  the  durable  Memorex  100X  top  coat. 
This  smooth,  durable  shield  protects  your  valuable  data 
and,  working  in  combination  with  the  recording  coat, 
extends  the  life  of  the  disc  over  100  times  the  life  of  a 
normal  disc  that  does  not  have  the  Memorex  dual  shields. 


The  key  reason  the  Data  Mark  has  been  ,so  well 
received  is  because  of  its  unique  oxide  particle  alignment. 
The  oxide  particles  encapsulated  within  the  extremely 
thin  coatings  are  circumferentially  aligned  on  the  disc. 

And  it’s  precisely  this  alignment  that  is  responsible  for  the 
Data  Mark’s  high  signal  output  and  data  resolution. 

The  Data  Mark  stores  70  million  bytes  and  is  available 
with  the  fixed  head  option.  Either  of  the  two  configurations 
gives  you  the  memory  excellence  from  which  Memorex 
has  gained  its  reputation. 

Call  your  Memorex  representative  or  write:  Memorex 
Corporation,  1125  Memorex  Drive,  MS-0064,  Santa 
Clara,  California  95052. 


MEMOREX 


See  the  Data  Mark  at  Booth  1347B.  NCC  Show.  Anaheim. -May  19-22. 


Jury  Out  in  Landmark  User-IBM  Case 


The  Direct  Connection 
Between  Source  Data 
And  The  Computer 

What  you  see  above  is  a  completely 
self-contained  Infopac ™  Data  Terminal. 
It's  easily  taken  wherever  a  man  can 
walk,  climb  or  drive,  to  the  sources  of 
information  and  collects  the  date- 

Then,  at  any  time,  the  recorded  4ata 
can  be  sent  from  the  Terminal  in  ASCII 
or  other  standard  codes,  through  a 
small  auxiliary  transmitter  and  over  a 
telephone  line,  directly  to  a  computer 
center  for  processing. 

It's  that  simple,  that  quick,  that  direct! 

There's  no  longer  any  need  for  paper, 
pencils,  padded  forms  or  carbon  copies. 
Gone  is  the  problem  of  illegible  hand¬ 
writing.  No  need  for  intermediate  tran¬ 
scriptions  involving  punched  cards, 
optical  card  readers,  key-to-disc  or 
other  systems.  Gone  is  the  possibility 
of  transcription  errors.  Gone  too  are  all 
the  delays  and  extra  costs  involved. 

The  applications  for  Infopac  are  vir¬ 
tually  endless.  Recording  product 
codes,  inventory  and  reordering  infor¬ 
mation.  payroll  information,  insurance 
policy  numbers  and  premiums,  cash  or 
credit  sales,  production  control  data, 
shipping  records,  pollution  monitoring 
station  readings,  utility  meter  readings, 
scientific  and  research  data,  part  num¬ 
bers.  quantities,  sizes,  weights,  mea¬ 
surements— and  on  and  on. 

The  Terminal  weighs  only  214  pounds, 
and  is  completely  self-contained— in¬ 
cluding  entry  and  function  keys.  LED 
verification  display,  integral  NiCad  bat¬ 
tery  pack,  and  solid-state  memory  with 
capacities  from  4,096  to  30.720 
characters. 

Entries  can  be  made  on  location  from 
the  keyboard,  or  with  a  wand-type 
reader.  Also,  fixed  information  can  be 
loaded  into  memory  in  advance  from  a 
computer,  by  unit  records.  Recorded 
data  can  be  transmitted,  and  can  be 
used  todrive  printerand  CRTTerminals. 

There  are  more  capabilities,  more 
features,  and  all  are  described  in  our 
literature— yours  for  the  asking. 

Infopac—" source  data  automation  in 
the  palm  of  your  hand:™ 


(Continued  from  Page  1) 
by  unscrupulous  means. 

“You  have  the  power  to  tell  IBM  it  is 
not  above  the  law,”  he  told  the  jury. 

Christo  emphasized  that  Catamore 
Enterprises  is  a  small,  family-owned  and 
family-run  concern. 

On  the  opposite  side,  attorney  Stephen 
A.  Fanning  Jr.  of  Edwards  and  Angell, 
the  Arm  representing  IBM,  equated 
finding  against  IBM  as  finding  personally 
against  the  four  IBM  account  representa¬ 
tives  and  systems  engineers  who  had  been 
attached  to  the  Catamore  account  and 
who  had  been  witnesses  in  the  case. 

The  case,  which  is  regarded  by  some  as  a 
possible  watershed  since  it  involves  un¬ 
bundling,  announced  in  June  1969,  cen¬ 
ters  on  what  Catamore  should  have  re¬ 
ceived  from  IBM  in  the  way  of  support 
services  and  programming. 

Catamore  placed  an  order  for  a  360/20 
BC-4  prior  to  unbundling,  in  September 
1968.  This  order  was  upgraded  to  a  DO-5 
in  May  1969.  Installment  was  deferred 
until  June,  1969;  a  Model  25  was  placed 
on  order  in  April  1970. 

Catamore's  charge  of  breach  of  contract 
contended  it  was  promised  support  up 
through  installation  while  IBM  contended 
it  did  not  do  programming  for  customers 
before  unbundling  and  did,  in  fact,  de¬ 


form  of  a  systems  engineer's  “work  prod-  overselling.  Fanning  noted  IBM  did  not 
uct,”  which  Catamore  pointed  out  was  provide  programming  services  before  un- 
not  ready  to  be  run,  or  even  coded  or  bundling.  It  was  up  to  the  customer  to 
written  into  programs.  perform  the  programming,  he  said. 

While  Christo  focused  on  IBM’s  failure  Fanning  painted  a  picture  of  a  small 
to  deliver  the  production  control  system  corporation  growing  rapidly  with  the 
and  its  use  of  marketing  tactics  such  as  chief  executive,  “who  didn’t  have  very 
locking  customers  in,  burning  bridges  and  good  captains.” 

Candidate  Charges  Possible  Fraud 


(Continued  from  Page  I) 
election  fraud”  discovered  in  the  U.S. 
since  the  advent  of  computerized  election 

Tom  Barnes,  vice-president  of  marketing 
for  CES,  the  firm  that  developed  El 
Paso’s  election  system,  described 
Schneider  as  “a  publicity  seeker  who  is 
trying  to  use  this  case  to  get  himself  some 
new  accounts. 

“He’s  made  claims  of  fraud  and  mis¬ 
counts  with  no  substantiation  at  all,” 
Barnes  said. 

He  argued  that  CES  invests  considerable 
effort  providing  security  for  its  computer¬ 
ized  voting  system  and  described  those 
procedures. 

First,  no  source  ddcumentation  is  ever 
made  available  to  a  client,  according  to 


From  the  Mouths  of  Babes  .  . 


(Continued  from  Page  I) 
oon  enough  that  her  students  are  ac- 
ually  pulling  her  leg.  Here’s  what  1  mean: 
“What  a  ‘bit’  is  has  a  very  short  memory 


“Once  I  saw  a  machine  that  looked  like 
a  computer.  It  looked  just  like  a  com¬ 
puter  should  look.  And  if  it  could  have 
looked  like  anything  besides  a  computer, 
your  gas  is  as  good  as  mine.” 

How’s  this  deduction  from  a  10-year- 
old?  ‘Take  a  good  long  look  at  a  com¬ 
puter.  Does  it  have  input,  output,  a  bit  of 
binary?  No?  Then  you  are  not  taking  a 


“In  the  early  days  of  inventing,  when 
they  asked  how  to  invent  a  computer, 
what  do  you  imagine  the  person  said 
when  they  asked  him?  Yup!  He  rolled  his 
deep  eyes  around  his  brain,  twitched  up 
his  nose  in  thought  and  with  a  deep 
throat  of  gladness  he  yelled,  ‘ok.’  ” 

Question:  “Where  are  computers  lo¬ 
cated?” 

Answer:  “On  pages  34  through  40.” 

Do  you  ever  wonder  why  teachers  get 
feverish  and  giddy?  It  comes  from  chuck¬ 
ling  and  rolling  in  the  classroom  aisles 
after  reading  what  kids  write. 

What  better  way  to  sum  up  this  fun 
piece  than  with  this  10-year-old  tot’s 
startling  words: 

“From  now  on,  after  learning  all  about 
computers,  I'm  going  to  think  wonderful 
happy-that-you-made-it-so  thoughts  with 
a  smile  in  my  heart." 

So  will  I! 


object  deck  form  -  in  hexidecimal  -  and 
no  one  in  El  Paso  County  has  access  to 
the  source  code,”  he  explained. 

Although  one  CES  programmer  who 
was  familiar  with  the  source  code  went  to 
El  Paso  to  oversee  installation  of  the 
system,  Barnes  said  he  had  no  reason  to 
doubt  the  integrity  of  that  employee. 

Schneider  claimed  other  CES  officials 
told  him  that,  although  “no  source  docu¬ 
mentation  went  to  El  Paso,  clients  wish¬ 
ing  to  have  source  documentation  and 
program  listings  are  welcome  to  it  upon 
request." 

This  means  that,  if  identical  software  is 
available  in  another  jurisdiction,  someone 
could  have  obtained  it  with  ease  for  use 
in  El  Paso,  Schneider  contended. 

A  second  level  of  security  is  provided 
through  testing  procedures  employed  at 
the  local  election  board  level,  according 

“About  10  days  before  the  system  is 
actually  used  in  an  election,  the  voting 
system  program  is  tested  in  a  bipartisan 
mock  election.  The  ballots  are  counted 
and  sealed  with  the  results  until  election 
night,  when  they  are  counted  again  just 
before  the  actual  vote  count  to  assure  the 
same  results  are  obtained,”  Barnes  ex- 

Finally,  after  the  actual  votes  are 
counted,  the  results  of  the  original  test  are 
tallied  once  again  to  assure  they  are  still 

“There  is  no  way  anybody  could  have 
changed  the  program,”  Barnes  said. 

Schneider  claimed,  however,  only  25 
ballots  are  counted  during  testing.  “It’s 
easy  to  fool  the  system  with  a  sample  of 
25  when  it’s  designed  to  count  60,000,” 
he  said. 

In  addition,  Schneider  claimed  CES’s 
EL-80  software,  used  to  tabulate  percent¬ 
ages  for  each  candidate,  does  not  count 


additional  information,  here’s  what  hap- 

“I  have  a  bet  with  my  girlfriend  Nancy, 
who  shall  be  nameless  that  more  men  do 
computering  than  girls.  She  thinks  I’m 
against  girl  libbies.  Straighten  her  out  for 
me.  I’m  not  a  shove  pig,  and  I  hope  you 
not  neither!  Thanks  in  advance  for  prov¬ 
ing  me.  Bye,  Harry." 

“Could  you  please  send  me  a  real  live 
picture  of  the  big  computer  called  Sage, 
so  I  can  show  the  class  for  my  report?  If 
you  don’t  send  it  by  Friday,  I  won’t  be 
made.  Sinsoily,  Gail.” 

“I  want  to  be  in  the  computer  line  when 
I  get  out  school.  How  important  is  math 
while  I’m  in  the  sixth  grade?  If  you  say 
very  important,  then  throw  this  letter 


Some  kids  become  quite  emotional 
when  enthused  about  an  area  of  study. 
Take  this  chap’s  ideas,  for  example: 

“From  what  I  can  see  and  think,  the 
computer  guys  are  very  excited  and 
thrilled  when  the  computers  come  up 
with  the  right  answers.  They  feel  life  is  a 
bowl  of  cherris  then.  But  just  as  soon  as 
the  answers  are  wrong,  boy,  life  is  a  bowl 


LIMITED  SPECIAL  OFFER 

ini  immu  fommui 


Possession  of  a  unique  imagination  is 
|  not  unique  in  the  American  classroom. 

bright  thought  by  an  11- 
I  year-old  laddie  with  the  makings  of  a 


June  25,  1975 


^COMPUTER  WORLD 


Economist  at  IBM  Antitrust  Trial 

The  Case  of  the  Fallen  Ashtray 

Explores  Principles  of  Monopoly 

By  Edith  Holmes  formance. 

oftn.cwst.il  While  competitive  structure  generally 

NEW  YORK  -  For  a  brief  time  last  “They  are  locked  and  bolted,  bars 
week,  a  fallen  ashtray  caused  IBM  to  down  the  slide,  with  padlocks  as  well 
suspect  someone  had  broken  into  the  as  the  key  locks,  and  none  of  those 
room  where  it  keeps  its  files  for  the  appear  to  have  been  tampered  with  in 
antitrust  trial  under  way  at  the  U.S.  any  way,”  he  noted. 

fr'1':!?! . m 

A  quick  inspection  of  the  room  and  mes  are  public  documents  anyway, 
its  contents,  however,  convinced  IBM  with  the  exception  of  some  di  ts  and 
counsel  and  Judge  David  N.  Edelstein  documents  from  other  firms  in  the 
the  suspicion  did  not  warrant  a  formal  industry  requiring  confjdential  han. 
investigation.  dling  and  present  only  for  possible  use 

An  ashtray  sitting  on  a  table  had  in  connection  with  the  trial 
been  knocked  over  between  the  time  a 

young  man  who  maintains  the  room  Barr  said  he  has  asked  a  complete 

for  IBM  left  and  the  time  he  returned.  a“di‘  °[  the  files  be  performed,  but 
But  lead  IBM  counsel  Thomas  D.  BarT  added  he  .  exPects  nothing  will  be 
noted  “the  files  appear  to  be  quite  found  "ussing. 

secure.”  Steps  have  also  been  undertaken  at 

economist  Dr.  Frederick  Scherer.  Considerable  study  of  an  industry,  must 

Repeatedly  stating  that  he  had  not  be  made  before  inferences  about  its  mar- 

made  an  in-depth  study  of  the  computer  kets  can  be  reasonably  drawn.  Scherer 

industry,  Scherer  tried  to  discuss  the  gen-  testified  he  had  no  specific  or  in-depth 
eral  economic  principles  behind  the  con-  knowledge  of  the  computer  industry  on 
cepts  of  monopoly,  competition  and  which  to  base  such  inferences. 

The  windows  to  the  room  were  not  the  court’s  request  to  fully  secure  the 
locked.  A  balcony  runs  alongside  them  windows  to  the  room, 
but,  while  the  windows  are  not  exces-  Edelstein  noted  that,  had  the  IBM 
sively  secured,  the  cabinets  containing  room  actually  been  broken  into,  he 
the  IBM  files  are,  Barr  indicated.  would  have  had  to  call  in  .the  FBI. 

“economically  meaningful  markets. 

Counsel  for  the  government  and  IBM 
also  attempted  to  keep  their  que 
general,  but  the  court  considered 
efforts  to  skirt  the  issues.  The  judge 
frequently  stopped  the  proceedings  to 
clarify  both  questions  and  answers. 

Scherer,  an  industrial  organization 
economist  who  teaches  at  the  University 
of  Michigan  and  is  now  on  leave  with  the 
Federal  Trade  Commission,  testified  that, 
in  attempting  to  define  any  economically 
relevant  market,  he  considers  two  general 
areas:  the  buyer’s  side  of  the  market,  in 
the  form  of  the  array  of  products  avail¬ 
able  and  whether  these  products  are  of¬ 
fered  on  a  geographic  basis;  and  the  ex¬ 
istence  of  competition  among  sup¬ 
pliers  -  whether  a  supplier  can  enter  the 
market  without  meeting  a  substantial 
price  rise  and  whether  the  ability  to  make 
a  substantial  substitution  for  products 
already  in  the  field  attracts  new  entrants 
to  the  market. 

Scherer  noted  he  has  a  tendency  to 
define  the  economic  market  more 
broadly  on  the  supply  side,  taking  into 
account  suppliers’  technical  ability  to 
grind  out  products,  their  marketing  ap¬ 
proach  and  their  reputation  in  the  mind 
of  the  users  of  their  products. 

Suppliers  Defined  by  Barriers 


Suppliers  in  a  relevant  market  are  also 
defined  by  the  barriers  to  entry  in  their 
marketplace,  Scherer  said. 

These  barriers  -  including  patents, 
dominance  of  a  key  resource,  production 
economies  of  scale,,  the  accumulated 
reputation  of  a  firm  and  the  ability  of 
larger  enterprises  to  raise  capital  at  lower 
interest  rates  and  with  less  assumption  of 
risk  on  the  part  of  investors  -  become 
significant  when  they  permit  a  firm  or 
group  of  firms  to  raise  the  price  of  a 
product  above  its  cost  without  attracting 
new  companies  into  the  marketplace. 

Beyond  patents  and  resources,  many 
economists  dispute  which  of  these  factors 
are  genuine  barriers  to  entry  in  a  market, 
Scherer  added. 

Asked  whether  market  share  or  the  con¬ 
centration  ratio  of  a  leading  firm  or  firms 
could  affect  market  structure,  Scherer 
replied  he  believes  that,  the  greater  the 
concentration  of  leading  firms  in  an  in¬ 
dustry,  the  greater  their  ability  to  main¬ 
tain  price  over  cost. 

In  trying  to  determine  “price  above 
cost”  or,  strictly  speaking,  monopoly 
power,  Scherer  said  one  must  look  be¬ 
yond  market  share  to  the  significant 
structural  barriers  to  entry,  the  conduct 
of  the  leading  firms  in  the  field  and  the 
end  performance  of  the  industry  in  the 
marketplace. 

The  economist  generally  defined  a 
“competitive  industry”  as  one  in  which 
any  particular  seller  is  small  with  respect 
to  the  market  or  markets  in  which  he 
participates. 

Some  markets  can  be  quite  competitive 
in  structure,  he  said,  yet  have  poor  per- 


Have  a  June  ceremony. 

Marry  data  communications  to 
data  base. 


Combining  database 
and  data  communica¬ 
tions  is  a  lot  like  getting 
married.  Compatibility  is 
a  must. 

The  vital  nature  of  data 
integrity,  restart/ recov¬ 
ery,  resource  utilization, 
reliability  and  perform¬ 
ance,  in  the  data  base/ 
data  communication  en¬ 
vironment  demand  a 
very  close  marriage. 
That's  why  Cincom  be¬ 
lieves  it  is  important  to 


ENVIRON/1 

Brings  batch 
programming 
Ease  to  the  World  of 
On-Line  Processing 


you  for  us  to  provide 
compatible  solutions  to 
both  your  data  base  and 
your  data  communica¬ 
tions  requirements. 
TOTAL  —  the  data  base 
management  system 
ENVIRON/1  —  the  data 
communications  control 
system 

In  this  “marriage”  all 
partners  gain  in  the  re¬ 
lationship.  TOTAL  is 
better  because  of  ENVI¬ 
RON/1;  ENVIRON/1  is 
better  because  of  TO¬ 


TAL.  And  your  data 
base/data  communica¬ 
tion  union  is  a  success¬ 
ful  one  because  of  the 
continuing  support  of 
the  Cincom  organization 
. . .  now  serving  over  875 
clients. 

If  you  are  interested  in 
the  ideal  database/data 
communication  mar¬ 
riage,  in  which  the  prod¬ 
ucts  were  made  for  each 
other,  why  not  give  us  a 
"ring"? 


Cincom  /y/tem/,  Inc: 
UJe  creole  efficiency. 


EO  COMPUTER  WORLD 


As  Opportunities  for  Deaf  Increase 

Sigcaph  Focusing  on  DPers  With  Invisible  Handicap’ 


Up  read,  use  sign  language,  finger  spelUng  son  said.  He  noted  the  Federal  Govem- 
and  paper  and  pencil,"  she  said.  “As  long  ment  employes  about  200  deaf  DP  per- 
as  it  is  a  one-to-one  situation,  communi-  sonnel,  and  IBM,  Control  Data  Corp., 
cations  is  not  too  bad  a  problem.  “““ — 1 -  — J  - - — 


essing  ana  tnat  educational  opportunities 
do  exist  to  equip  deaf  people  for  this 
field. 

Approximately  180  people,  including 
40  deaf  professionals,  attended  the  two- 
day  conference. 

munications,  and  it  can  be  a  real  pain.”  viauoway  aumiueu  nowever,  tnat  Calif.  plant  |ast  summer  and  1 1  this  year. 

However,  she  feels  the  problem  is  not  deaf  People  often  get  dead-ended  in  “But  will  )BM  ^  them?-  jalnison 

insurmountable.  their  job  because  of  this  problem.  questioned.  “I  hope  it  wUl.  But  they 

“The  majority  of  students  at  Gallaudet  Generally,  though,  the  employment  pic-  shouldn’t  be  hired  because  they’re  deaf, 

use  total  communications  -  they  speak,  ture  for  deaf  people  is  improving,  Jami-  but  because  they’re  capable  ” 

Steven  Jamison,  Sigcaph's  vice-chairman 
for  the  deaf  and  a  consultant  to  IBM  in 
this  area,  feels  computing  has  an  attrac¬ 
tion  for  the  deaf  because  it  places  less  of 
a  premium  on  the  abUity  to  hear  than 
many  other  occupations.  The  ability  of 
deaf  people  to  concentrate  in  a  noisy 
computer  center  is  sometimes  greater 
than  that  of  hearing  people,  he  noted. 

Jamison’s  interest  in  opening  up  oppor¬ 
tunities  for  the  deaf  is  more  than  just 
professional  -  his  son  is  deaf. 

“Deafness  is  much  more  of  a  handicap 
than  most  people  realize  because  it’s  in¬ 
visible,”  he  said.  “People  who  are  deaf 
from  birth  often  do  not  learn  to  speak 
well.  They  don't  pick  up  a  large  vocubu- 
lary  and  average  a  10th  grade  reading 
level. 

r 

Our  new  Model 
of  things  to  come. 

June  25,  I97S 


Page  7 


More  Than  30  Schools  Offer  DP  Training  for  Deaf 


DP  training  for  deaf  students  is  available 
at  30  community  colleges  in  this  country 
and  several  four-year  schools  offer  small 


are  computer-oriented.  A  major  in  o 


Two  schools,  however,  specialize  in 
teaching  only  deaf  students  -  Gallaudet 
College  in  Washington,  D.C.,  and  the  Na¬ 
tional  Institute  for  the  Deaf  (NTID),  lo¬ 
cated  on  the  campus  of  the  Rochester 
Institute  of  Technology  (RIT)  in  Roches¬ 
ter,  N.Y. 


1864.  Students  attend  either  four  or  five 


improve  reading  and  language  skills. 

Although  there  is  no  major  offered  in 
computer  sciences,  Gallaudet  does  have 
courses  in  both  the  mathematics  and  busi¬ 
ness  administration  departments  which 


Students  at  Gallaudet  are  in  the  top  5% 
of  all  deaf  students  and  David  McGuiness, 
a  professor  of  mathematics  there,  said 
“there  is  no  reason  why  they  shouldn’t  be 
as  capable  as  any  hearing  person.” 

The  only  special  condition  a  deaf  stu¬ 
dent  requires  is  that  a  teletypewriter  be 
provided,  since  he  cannot  use  the  tele¬ 
phone,  he  added. 

There  are  both  definite  advantages  and 
disadvantages  for  a  deaf  student  attending 
an  all-deaf  school,  according  to  Marilyn 
Galloway,  Gallaudet’s  placement  officer. 
They  are  learning  in  a  segregated  environ¬ 
ment,  so  there  is  a  lot  they  don’t  learn, 
she  said,  but  at  Gallaudet  they  are  given 
an  identity  and  understanding  of  their 
problem. 

Deaf  students  in  hearing  schools  often 
have  a  hard  time  developing  leadership, 
she  added. 


NTID  is  a  two-year  technical  school 
offering  an  associate’s  degree  and,  on 
completion  of  the  degree  program,  stu¬ 
dents  can  transfer  to  RIT  for  further 

Professional 

Development 

training.  There  are  approximately  25  stu¬ 
dents  taking  DP  training,  and  several 
other  majors  include  computer  training. 

DP  Courses  a  Good  Choice 
Students  in  DP  spend  the  first  year 
training  in  operations  and  the  second  in 
programming.  Donald  Biel,  an  associate 
professor  of  DP,  said  “programming  is  an 
activity  here,  rather  than  listening  to  lec¬ 
tures.  We  use  a  lot  of  visual  materials  and 


350 is  the  shape 
From  Sycor. 

The  first  thing  you’ll  notice  is  the  way  we’ve 
integrated  the  exclusive  Sycor  dual  flexible  disk  into 
our  compact  Model  350. 

But  there’s  more  to  the  Model  350  than  meets 
the  eye.  It’s  also  the  lowest  cost  flexible  disk 
intelligent  terminal  on  the  market. 

And  we’ve  equipped  our  Model  350 
with  16K  bytes  of  programmable  memory. 

_  Plus  a  powerful  new  language  called  TAL II,  so 

you  can  custom-tailor  programs  to  meet  your  own  unique 
requirements.  This,  along  with  500,000  characters  of  flexible  disk  storage, 
makes  the  Model  350  the  first  step  to  remote  data  base  management. 

Cut  keystrokes  by  50  vand  watch  data  entry  costs  go  down. 
Think  what  the  Model  350  can  do  in  your 
sales  order  entry  applications.  It  lets  you 
store  customer,  product/price  and  salesman 
files  right  at  the  source.  Or  use  it  to  retrieve  f 
data,  maintain  and  update  files— even  to 
generate  reports. 

Just  key  in  a  code  number  and  the 
product  name  appears  with  all  the  pertinent 
data.  Key  in  another  number  and  you  retrieve 
your  customer’s  name,  address  and  billing  information.  ^  ^ 

All  of  which  means  reduced  keystrokes  for  your  operator, 
improved  accuracy  for  you. 

Mil  niaiiyuiii  soMiumi  if  mil  me  mrcvngcnce  pioneer 

The  Model  350  is  the  latest  in  a  line  of  terminal  products  that  started  with 
the  Sycor  Model  340,  the  most  versatile  intelligent  terminal  around. 

Today,  there  are  more  than  25,000  Sycor-built  terminals  in  use  in 
38  countries  around  the  world.  In  North  America  alone,  we  maintain  our 
equipment  through  95  service  centers,  staffed  by  over  400  skilled  technicians. 

For  more  information  on  the  Model  350,  contact  your  Sycor 
representative.  You  can  get  delivery  in  60  days. 

For  more  information  on  things  to  come  in  the  field  of  remote  data 


base  management, 
keep  an  eye  on  Sycor. 


SYCOR 


.  ..used  by  half  of  the  Fortune  500 companies. 


language  with  which  to  cope.  He  added, 
however,  that  the  students  do  have  a 
significant  learning  handicap  because  of 
their  low  English  level. 

“Education  in  general  is  geared  for  read¬ 
ing.  In  data  processing,  thick  textbooks 
are  usually  used  which  we  can't  make  use 
of,”  he  said. 

Despite  this  problem,  Biel  feels  the  qual¬ 
ity  of  training  students  receive  at  NTID  is 
equal  to  that  of  other  schools.  He  previ¬ 
ously  taught  four  years  at  a  regular  uni¬ 
versity,  and  feels  the  students  he  has  now 
are  as  capable  as  any  he’s  had  before. 

“Just  like  any  school,  there  is  a  cross- 
section  of  students,”  he  said.  “There  are  a 
few  that  are  exceptional,  a  few  mediocre 
and  some  poor  students.” 

Georgia  State  Takes 
Practical  Approach 

ATLANTA  -  The  mathematics  depart¬ 
ment  at  Georgia  State  University  here  has 
developed  a  number  of  computer  science 
courses  that  aren’t  all  theory. 

Among  these  is  a  graduate-level  program 
designed  to  train  secondary  and  grade 
school  teachers  in  the  use  of  computers 
for  teaching  mathematics,  a  spokesman 
for  Georgia  State  said.  As  a  final  project, 
teachers  enrolled  in  the  course  design  and 
write  interactive  instructional  programs  in 
Basic  or  APL  suitable  for  their  own 
classes,  he  noted. 

The  university  also  supports  its  basic 
statistics  courses,  from  freshman  through 
beginning  graduate  levels,  by  an  inter¬ 
active  simulation  program  called  the 
Automated  Statistics  Laboratory  (ASL). 
Using  ASL,  students  perform  sampling 
experiments  which  provide  visible  evi¬ 
dence  of  the  distributions  of  the  inferen¬ 
tial  statistics  they  study  and  apply,  the 


Several  packaged  computational  pro- 
are  also  used  for  regression  and 
problems  involving  large,  realistic 
sts,  according  to  the  school’s  repre¬ 


data 


He  added  the  school  is  currently  study¬ 
ing  the  potential  of  California  Computer 
Products’  drum  plotter  as  an  instructional 
tool  and  an  artistic  medium. 

The  mathematics  department  recently 
approved  a  bachelor’s  degree  in  mathe¬ 
matics  with  a  concentration  in  informa¬ 
tion  systems,  following  the  recommenda¬ 
tions  of  the  Association  for  Computing 
Machinery  (ACM)  for  the  training  of  spe¬ 
cialists  in  information  systems. 

Containing  60  hours  of  course  work  in 
mathematics  (calculus  and  higher  mathe¬ 
matics),  this  program  also  requires  50 
hours  of  exposure  to  information  sys¬ 
tems,  including  two  programming 
courses,  the  spokesman  said. 

Georgia  State  has  a  Univac  70/7  with  67 
terminal  lines,  35  of  which  are  dedicated 
for  student  use.  The  school’s  representa¬ 
tive  noted  that  some  courses  taught  for 
Atlanta  Public  School  System  teachers 
use  APL  on  an  IBM/370  machine  and 
tics  department  has  ter- 
both  these  CPUs. 


^COMPUTER  WOULD 


This  is  an  ad 
for  Xerox  computers. 

(But  not  from  Xerox.) 


It’s  from  Telefile  Computer  Products.  And  we’ve  taken  this  space 
for  two  reasons: 

First,  we’re  a  Xerox  computer  user  and  like  the  others,  we  believe  in 
the  mainframe.  Price/performance  is  second  to  none. 

Secondly,  we’re  selfish.  We  manufacture  and  market  fully  compatible 
disk  systems,  main  memory  and  other  peripherals  for  Xerox  computer 
users.  So  every  new  Xerox  system  sold  represents  an  opportunity  for  us. 

If  you  don’t  have  a  Xerox  computer  now,  look  into  one.  System 
architecture  is  remarkably  advanced  and  in  such  tune  with  the  softwar  e 
that  users  claim  the  computers  deliver  up  to  95  percent  of  capacity. 
Unheard-of efficiency. 

Tying  the  package  together  are  two  state-of-the-art  operating 
systems:  Control  Program-Five  (CP-V)  and  Control  Program-R,  for 
Real-time  (CP-R).  CP-V  provides  simultaneous  access  five  ways: 
real-time,  time-sharing,  multi-programmed  batch,  remote  batch,  and 
transaction  processing  in  any  combination.  CP-R  is  ideal  for  more 
dedicated  engineering,  scientific  or  real-time  applications. 

If  you  do  have  a  Xerox  computer  now,  look  at  the  advantages  you  can 
have  with  Telefile’s  new  generation  of  peripherals:  Total  hardware 
compatibility.  Software  trans¬ 
parency.  Fast  delivery.  Lower  cost. 

Better  features.  Strong  back-up 
support. 

Take  it  fromTelefile,  buy  a 
Xerox  computer.  Then  save  by 
outfitting  it  withTelefile  peripherals. 

Who  knows,  maybe  next  time 
they’ll  run  an  ad  for  us. 

Telefile  Computer  Products.  Inc.,  17131  Daimler  St.,  Irvine,  CA  92705.  TXUflkb  OWtt  XetOX  Sigma  5. 

Our  peripherals  make  it  work  better 
and  last  longer. 

Compliments  of  a  friend. 


Vendors  Claim  Bios 
Favoring  IBM  Shown 
In  Arkansas  Bidding 

( Continued  from  Page  I) 
it’s  quite  obvious  they  wanted  it  in  this 
case  from  the  beginning,”  he  said. 

According  to  Don  K.  Martin,  director  of 
the  state’s  central  computing  facility  in 
the  finance  and  administration  depart¬ 
ment,  the  letter  of  intent  had  nothing  to 
do  with  the  proposed  Information  Sys¬ 
tem  Plan,  but  was  simply  intended  to 
reserve  a  machine  for  his  shop,  which  he 
expected  would  run  out  of  capacity  in 
late  1975  or  early  1976. 

But  Ellisor  found  it  “more  than  mere 
coincidence”  that  the  letter  of  intent  sent 
out  in  April  1974  and  the  IBM  proposal 
for  the  Information  Systems  Plan  both 
referred  to  370/158  multiprocessors. 

As  for  the  two  consultants  from  IBM 
who  helped  the  Isec,  the  committee 
lacked  expertise  in  this  area  and  private 
consulting  help  was  too  expensive,  ac¬ 
cording  to  Thomas  H.  Berliner,  Isec  exec¬ 
utive  secretary. 

Isec  was  well  aware  that  taking  on  the 
free  IBM  consultants  “had  some  serious 
implications,  but  was  assured  by  IBM  this 
would  not  be  a  marketing  environment,” 
Berliner  stated. 

“And  I  can  unquestionably  say  that’s 
been  held  to,”  he  added. 

“When  we  heard  IBM  was  offering  two 
people,  we  offered  the  same  service  but 
were  turned  down  because  Isec  said  it  did 
not  want  to  mix  ideologies,”  Univac’s 
Ellisor  remarked. 

The  two  consultants  “certainly  allowed 
IBM  to  have  prior  knowledge  of  the 
state’s  needs,”  he  said. 

The  consultants  were  not  involved  in 
designing  the  RFP  and  benchmark,  Ber¬ 
liner  said. 

Of  the  Benchmark’s  four  sections,  the 
accounting  and  federal  grants  manage¬ 
ment  section  held  no  advantage  to  IBM 
because  it  had  not  yet  been  run  on  the 
state’s  machines,  he  said. 

The  second  benchmark  involved  a  per¬ 
sonnel  payroll  system  which  provided 
some,  but  “not  a  significant”  advantage 
to  the  state’s  “encumbent  supplier,”  Ber¬ 
liner  said. 

The  third  element  was  built  around  the 
state’s  major  teleprocessing  application,  a 
criminal  justice/highway  safety  system. 

The  fourth  element  consisted  of  a  batch 
jobstream  of  existing  programs  written  in 
standard  Cobol. 

At  this  point,  Isec  has  allowed  IBM  to 
continue  as  the  sole  bidder  for  the  con¬ 
tract,  and  the  firm  expects  to  perform  the 
benchmark. 

If  IBM  is  successful,  the  Information 
Systems  Plan  will  go  to  the  legislature's 
Communications  Committee  for  review. 
There  it  may  face  some  uncertainty. 


re  should  be 


write  our  specs  for  us,  and 
telling  the  vendors  what  u 
and  then  letting  them  tell  us  how  they 
do  it,”  Rep.  Joel  Ledbetter, 
of  the  committee,  said. 


June  25,  1975 


Delays  Hamper  Arizona  Hardware  Consolidation  Plan 


I’m  a  taxpayer  too,”  Rooen  said. 

DES  brought  in  the  145  as  an  emer- 
PHOENIX  -  Since  the  Arizona  legisla-  gency  measure  because  its  40  was  process- 
ture  decided  to  do  something  about  “ex-  ing  “practically  nothing  but  unemploy- 
cessive”  DP  spending  four  years  ago,  a  "tent  work,”  he  said, 
hardware  consolidation  plan  has  cut  the  DES  has  already  transferred  many  of : 
number  of  state  CPUs  from  16  to  six.  systems  to  the  data  center,  is  accept! 

The  state  has  set  up  a  common  data  bids  for  outside  assistance  and  hopes 
center  in  the  Department  of  Administra-  have  the  rest  of  its  workload  on  t 
tion  to  handle  the  business-oriented  needs  Honeywell  systems  by  the  end  of  the  ye 


said.  So  other  than  the  Department  of  Ad- 

i  as  an  emer-  ministration  center,  which  handles  busi- 
0  was  process-  ness  applications  for  a  variety  of  users, 
ut  unemploy-  there  is  a  criminal  justice  center  and  one 
for  the  Department  of  Transportation, 
ed  many  of  its  Long  feels  his  center  has  “stopped  the 
r,  is  accepting  very  rapid  growth  in  small  computers” 


that  originally  concerned  legislators. 

Based  on  the  way  the  transportation 
and  criminal  justice  computer  operations 
have  grown,  Long  feels  the  Department 
of  Administration’s  data  center  should  be 
saving  about  S 1  million  annually  in  hard- 


of  state  agencies.  There  are  two  other 
special-purpose  centers. 

But  major  departments  have  fallen  be¬ 
hind  schedule  in  switching  over  to  the 
common  data  center,  whose  two  Honey¬ 
well  60/60  CPUs  are  running  at  only  48% 
of  capacity. 


3r  earlier,  Rooen  said. 

That  workload  would  boost  the  data 
renter’s  computer  utilization  to  about 
58%,  he  said. 

Raymond  Long,  director  of  the  Admin¬ 
istration  Department,  agreed  that  a  lack 
of  conversion  funding  slowed  down  DES 


:  Department  of  Economic  Se-  and  other  agencies.  But  there  w 


curity  (DES),  the  data  center’s  largest  reasons  for  the  i 
potential  user,  has  just  brought  in  an  IBM  User  agencies 
370/145  to  help  it  during  a  conversion  the  size  and  co 
that  so  far  has  taken  22  months  instead  inventory  they 
of  the  scheduled  six.  stated. 

The  larger  agencies  have  been  slow  to  Some  smaller  i 
change  over  to  the  data  center  because  of  poorly  docume 
the  quality  of  service  it  has  provided  so  held  things  up  t< 
far,  according  to  Rep.  James  B.  Ratliff  And  the  data 
(R-15th  Dist.).  He  is  chairman  of  a  select  cies  have  tried 
committee  looking  into  the  Department  out  of  the  com 


reasons  for  the  delays,  he  said. 

User  agencies  tended  to  underestimate 
the  size  and  complexity  of  the  software 
inventory  they  would  have  to  convert,  he 
stated. 

Some  smaller  users  ran  into  trouble  with 
poorly  documented  programs  and  this 
held  things  up  too,  he  said. 

And  the  data  center  and  the  user  agen¬ 
cies  have  tried  to  make  systems  coming 
out  of  the  conversion  process  as  modern 


SIM14 

Abetter  way 
to  run  1401. 


nemployment  and  welfare  checks  and  Department  of  Administration  i: 


“has  to  be  sure  those  things  are  going  to 
go  out,”  Ratliff  said. 

But  Sy  Rooen,  systems  and  program¬ 
ming  manager  for  DES,  denied  the  agency 


grossing  very  well  with  consolidation. 

The  legislature  had  originally  planned  to 
set  up  one  consolidated  DP  center,  but 
later  decided  on  at  least  three,  he  re¬ 


entry  (RJE)  terminals  linked  to  the  data  of  scale  and  become  cumbersome  in  han- 
center.  dling  the  users'  peak  loads,  emergencies 

“I’m  all  in  favor  of  centralization;  hell,  and  changing  needs. 

Woman  Wins  Fight  for  Her  Life 
Agoinst  Social  Security  System 

WALLA  WALLA,  Wash.  -  Mura  Mar-  dent,  Puig  was  first  declared  dead  in 
shall  has  finally  won  the  battle  with  the  1971.  Social  Security  workers  refused  to 
system  handling  her  Social  Security  pay-  believe  she  was  alive  until  she  walked 
ments  -  the  computer  error  which  de-  through  their  door, 
clared  her  dead  has  been  corrected.  Last  November,  Puig  was  again  declared 

Marshall’s  Social  Security  payments  had  dead.  But  a  phone  call  was  enough  to 
not  been  sent  for  three  months  because  resurrect  her  this  time, 
someone  with  a  number  similar  to  hers  As  Marshall  declared  after  her  ordeal, 
died.  The  digits  of  that  number  were  “It  could  happen  to  anyone.” 
transposed  to  become  Marshall’s  identi-  _ _ _ 


If  you're  running  under  DOS  or 
OS,  your  1400  series  programs 
aren't  just  a  nuisance;  they're 
expensive— in  time,  money, 


SIM14,  our  proprietary  two-job  operations, 
software,  offers  you  a  better  There  are  over  20 

way  to  run.  installations  now  using  SI 

It  brings  up  your  1400  Let  us  show  you  the  detail 

series  support  programs  under  and  prove  our  claims. 
DOS  or  OS  on  any  S/360,  S/370  Call  your  nearest  Dearboi 
machine  without  operator  office. 


intervention. 

It  increases  yourspeed; 
thereby  saving  you  money. 

But  more  than  that,  your 
people  no  longer  go  crazy  with 
two-job  operations. 

There  are  over  20 
installations  now  using  SIM14. 
Let  us  show  you  the  details, 
and  prove  our  claims. 


dearborn 


S  dearborn  computer  leasing  co.  Chicago  om 67t-<< 

toronlo  (416)  621-7060  SI.  louis  (314)  727-7277  Cincinnati  (SI 3)  77 


computer  is  housed,  that  she  “is  very 
much  alive.” 

Marshall,  who  is  entitled  to  a  monthly 
payment  of  $191,  thought  that  as  soon  as 
she  had  informed  the  San  Francisco  of¬ 
ficials  of  her  well  being,  everything  would 
be  taken  care  of,  but  it  was  not  until  two 
months  later,  largely  through  the  help  of 
Fifth  District  Congressman  Tom  Foley, 
that  any  action  took  place. 

Although  Marshall  has  now  received 
payments  to  date,  she  said  she  is  “waiting 
and  very  nervous  that  they  will  not  come 
on  a  regular  monthly  basis.” 

Maria  Puig,  on  the  other  hand,  has  been 
declared  dead  not  just  once  but  twice 
through  a  computer  error.  A  Miami  resi- 


REAL  TIME/SECURITY/PREVENTIVE  MAINTENANCE/EXTERNAL  LABELS/MOVEMENT  CONTROL/SCRATCH  CONTROL/CLEAN/ 

1  TAPE  I 


LIBRARY 

MANAGEMENT 

SYSTEM 

- TLMS - 


May  we  tell  you  more? 


Houston.  Texas  77001 
713/228-7040 


u  LABELS/MOVEMENT  CONTROL/SCRATCH  CONTROL/CLEAN  INTERFACE/MULTIPLE  CPUS/QUALITY  CONTRQL/OS/360/370^ 


Page  10 


June  25,  1975 


Legal  Interpretation  of  Insurance  a  Constant  Problem 


By  Toni  Wiseman  The  next  step,  Freed  said,  is  where  the 

oithacw  staff  challenge  arises,  in  examining  policies  to 

ANAHEIM,  Calif.  -  Insurance  for  com-  see  whether  they  cover  the  risks  identi- 
puter  users  and  suppliers  and  the  ac-  fied. 

companying  problems  in  interpreting  the  The  basic  types  of  risks  include  loss  of 
law  when  products  fail  to  perform  contin-  property,  loss  because  of  errors  and  ora- 


ue  to  cause  uncertainty  in  the  relation-  mission  in 
ships  between  user  and  supplier.  work  (prol 

Technology  introduces  “new  wrinkles”  hensive  gen 

into  “traditional  fact  situations,  out  of  for  harm  tl 
which  legal  questions  have  always  arisen,”  or  slander), 
according  to  Attorney  Roy  N.  Freed,  and  “I  hazard 
it  is  these  fact  situations  of  which  “we  few  softwa 
have  to  be  aware  in  order  to  determine  of  their  ex] 
their  significance.”  financially. 


mission  in  the  performance  of  the  DP 
work  (professional  liability)  and  compre¬ 
hensive  general  liability  to  cover  exposure 
for  harm  that  results  to  persons  (physical 


“I  hazard  a  guess  there  are  really  very 
few  software  suppliers  who  are  cognizant 
of  their  exposure  and  are  providing  for  it 
financially.  Freed  said. 


“But,  if  you  examine  the  policies  re¬ 
garding  product  liability,  you  find  they’re 
very  precise  and  they  apply  to  physical 
products  delivered  to  customers  where 
the  loss  occurred  off  the  premises  of  the 
supplier,”  Freed  noted. 

“The  definition  of  the  term  ‘software 
program’  becomes  very  important  in  this 
regard.  If  a  creator  of  software  programs 
delivers  magnetic  tapes  or  other  computer 
media  to  its  customers,  are  those  prod¬ 
ucts  which  should  be  covered  by  product 
liability  insurance  -  which  would  mean 
creators  of  the  software  programs  could 
get  that  type  of  insurance  coverage  -  or 
are  the  media  defined  for  legal  purposes 
to  be  something  else,  like  a  technical 
manual  describing  a  manufacturing  or  re¬ 
fining  process?”  Freed  said. 

Freed  also  cautioned  systems  houses  to 
examine  their  liability,  since  they  are,  in 


Systems  houses,  Freed  suggested,  should 
talk  to  their  hardware  suppliers  and  say 
“you  have  product  liability  insurance.  1 

pany  name  me  as  an  ‘additional  insured’ 
under  your  policy  so  I  don’t  have  to  go 
out  and  buy  insurance  for  myself.” 

“You  find,  upon  analysis,  many  of  these 
approaches  are  appropriate,  economical 
and  essential,”  he  stated. 


June  25,  1975 


mCOMPUTERWORLO 


Using  Off-the-Shelf  Hardware 


Mitre  Achieves  Cost  Breakthrough  With  CAI  System 


By  John  Hebert 
Of  the  CW  Staff 

McLEAN,  Va.  -  Combining  inexpen¬ 
sive,  off-the-shelf  minicomputers,  type¬ 
writer  terminals  and  ordinary  color  tele¬ 
vision  sets  with  innovative  instructional 
techniques  apparently  has  enabled  the 
Mitre  Corp.  here  to  develop  an  individual¬ 
ized  computer-aided  instruction  (CAI) 
system  which  overcomes  previous  cost 


partment. 

Mitre  had  spent  $1  million  of  its  own 
funds  on  initial  development  of  the  Ticcit 


Cost  evaluation  of  the  Time-Shared  In¬ 
teractive  Computer-Controlled  Informa¬ 
tion  Television  (Ticcit)  pilot  system,  in¬ 
stalled  at  five  community  colleges  and 
military  training  bases,  has  yielded  cost 
estimates  of  30  cents  to  $1  per  student 
hour  including  maintenance  on  an  amor¬ 
tized  system,  according  to  John  L.  Volk, 
head  of  Mitre’s  Computer  Systems  De¬ 


system  since  between  1968  and  1971, 
when  the  National  Science  Foundation 
(NSF)  began  its  $5.5  million  sponsorship, 
Volk  said. 

The  configuration  achieving  the  cost 
breakthrough  relies  on  two  Data  General 
(DG)  Nova  minicomputers  connected  to 
125  Controls  Research  typewriter 
'  and  an  equal  number  of  Sony 
color  television  sets.  It  provides  individ¬ 
ualized  instruction  for  as  many  as  125 
students  simultaneously,  he  said. 


Alternatives  W 


But  “off-the-shelf  hardware”  of  any  kind 
can  be  used  to  keep  costs  down,  Volk 
added,  noting  that  Mitre  has  also  experi¬ 


mented  with  two  other  hardware  configu¬ 
rations  with  similar  cost-saving  results. 

One  of  these  systems  used  a  DG  Nova  as 
a  communications  processor  connected  to 
a  Hewlett-Packard  2000F  in  time-sharing 
mode. 

The  other,  an  IBM-configured  system 
using  any  model  370  CPU,  was  estimated 
to  be  25%  cheaper  than  using  IBM  equip¬ 
ment  with  other  CAI  systems.  This  is  a 
result  of  Ticcit ’s  incorporation  of  instruc¬ 
tion  goals  and  principles  -  “it’s  an  or¬ 
derly  system,”  Volk  said. 

The  larger  systems  offer  a  wider  range 
of  capabilities,  such  as  the  use  of 
graphics,  but  costs  will  not  be  in  the  same 
30  cents  to  $1  per  student  hour  range,  he 
added 

Other  CAI  and  computer-based  educa¬ 
tion  systems,  one  in  use  at  the  University 


of  Michigan  and  other  nearby  institutions 
on  a  time-sharing  basis,  normally  incur 
costs  between  $2.50  and  $8.00  per  stu¬ 
dent  hour,  not  including  terminal  costs, 
Karl  L.  Zinn,  a  research  scientist  and 
associate  director  of  the  Merit  computer 
network  at  the  University  of  Michigan, 


said. 


The  Merit  system,  for  example,  uses  a 
general-purpose  IBM  370/168  with  a  vari¬ 
ety  of  languages  and  peripheral  equip¬ 
ment  including  teletypewriters  and  CRT, 
alphanumeric  and  graphics  terminals, 
Zinn  said. 

The  vast  discrepancies  in  cost  between 
Ticcit  and  other  CAI  systems  lies  in  the 
fact  that  Ticcit  is  intended  primarily  for 
introductory  subjects  on  the  community 
college  level,  where  there  is  not  a  great 
deal  of  complexity  in  subject  matter  or 
high  student  enrollment,  although  such 


Page  12 


MCOMPUTERWORLD 


June  25, 1975 


Editorials 

Setting  the  Record  Straight 

Unfortunately,  the  public  is  still  all  too  willing  to 
believe  computer  technology  should  be  blamed  for 
social  misdeeds.  Two  separate  incidents,  each  vaguely 
blaming  the  computer,  support  this  point. 

In  a  glaring  implication,  NBC  News  said  a  computer 
breakthrough  had  made  it  possible  to  compile  and 
transmit  an  individual's  personal  data  "to  compile 
swiftly  a  file." 

The  breakthrough  alluded  to,  apparently,  was  the 
Department  of  Defense  Arpa  net,  which  has  con¬ 
nected  different  CPUs  at  various  university,  military 
and  research  facilities  for  some  time.  The  Arpa  net  is 
basically  a  transmission  medium  which  developed  and 
utilizes  packet-switching. 

To  blame  the  Arpa  net  for  enabling  someone  to 
transmit  confidential  data  is  akin  to  blaming  the 
phone  company  for  having  provided  the  facilities  that 
make  obscene  calls  possible. 

The  second  incident  occurred  when  a  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  credit  bureau  sent  out  60,000  letters  offering 
recipients  the  sole  copies  of  their  credit  file.  The 
letter  was  titled  "Is  Your  Privacy  in  Jeopardy?"  and 
it  warned  that  those  not  willing  to  pay  $7.50  to  get 
possession  of  their  file  would  run  the  risk  that  it 
"becomes  part  of  a  large  computerized  data  bank 
which  may  allow  unlimited  access  by  thousands  of 
people." 

Blaming  computer  technology  for  the  way  it  is 
manipulated  by  some  is  a  recurring  theme  that  keeps 
rearing  its  ugly  head.  It  seems  to  use  the  same  kind  of 
logic  as  the  ancient  rulers  who  used  to  kill  the 
messenger  who  brought  bad  news. 

It  is  up  to  all  of  us  to  set  the  record  straight, 
especially  among  members  of  the  general  public  who 
are  willing  to  believe  their  worst  fears  about  the  evil 
power  of  the  big,  bad  computer. 

Hard  Look  in  the  Mirror 

The  great  McDonald's/Cal  Tech  contest  caper  of 
1975  is  history.  In  the  best  tradition  of  harmless 
rip-offs  our  society  enjoys,  a  group  of  students  had 
the  last  word  over  Ronald  McDonald  and  his  corpo¬ 
rate  buddies. 

Best  of  all,  nobody  got  hurt  in  the  operation. 
McDonald's  got  the  proverbial  million  dollars  worth 
of  publicity  and  more.  The  university  got  a  scholar¬ 
ship,  thanks  to  Burger  King,  which  wanted  a  piece  of 
the  publicity  action. 

The  students  paid  for  their  CPU  time,  and  they 
donated  their  prizes  to  worthwhile  causes.  And  a 
second  set  of  prizes  were  awarded  to  "real"  custom¬ 
ers.  Obviously,  McDonald's  treasury  was  hardly 
dented. 

So  it  was  a  bit  disconcerting  to  read  that  Mc¬ 
Donald's  felt  the  caper  was  a  "contradiction  to 
American  standards  of  fair  play  and  sportsmanship." 

And  it  is  hard  to  identify  with  the  corporate 
spokesman  who  said  the  students  detracted  from  a 
contest  designed  to  give  customers  a  chance  at 
goodies  in  a  time  of  economic  stress. 

Even  more  discouraging  was  a  comment  from  a 
reader  who  called  the  scheme  "repugnant,"  saying  it 
was  awful  that  these  senior  computer  science  students 
would  soon  be  at  the  forefront  of  our  next  generation. 

What  the  Cal  Tech  students  really  did  was  cause  us 
to  take  a  hard  look  at  ourselves  in  the  mirror.  The 
students  were  telling  us  the  old  "something  for 
nothing"  contest  gimmick  is  not  sacred  and  even  an 
IBM  370/158  can  be  used  for  harmless  fun. 

Those  who  took  offense  have  probably  forgotten 
the  pranks  they  enjoyed  when  they  were  young. 

There  are  enough  serious  issues  confronting  the  DP 
community.  Let's  not  lose  the  ability  to  laugh  at 
ourselves.  Sometimes  it  is  good  medicine. 


ARMY  DOSSIERS 

ON  Ui  CITIZEN* 


TVo  Problem,  Everybody  Knows  They're  Poisonous . . .  ' 


Letters  to  the  Editor 


Does  Cal  Tedi  Caper  Represent 
Ethics  Expected  in  DP  Future? 

I  was  seriously  upset  when  I  read  the  story, 
“Students  Best  Burger  Bonanza”  [CW,  June  4],  a 
report  about  a  group  of  Cal  Tech  computer  science 
students  who  snookered  a  McDonald’s  Restaurants 
contest  by  stuffing  the  contest  box  with  com¬ 
puter-generated  entries. 

First  of  all,  if  the  costs  of  generating  the  entries 
(printed  on  an  IBM  370/1S8)  were  counted  up,  I 
am  sure  the  enterprise  would  have  been  at  best  a 
break-even  deal. 

Second,  the  idea  that  it  was  indeed  a  profit-mak¬ 
ing  venture  is  based  solely  on  the  fact  that  the 
students  paid  nothing  for  computer  time  or  sup¬ 
plies  -  which  in  turn  is  based  on  the  fact  that  the 
public  provided  that  computer  time  and  those 
supplies. 

In  other  words,  they  had  no  expenses  because 
the  public  paid  their  expenses,  while  they  col¬ 
lected  the  proceeds.  This  is  repugnant. 

Even  more  repugnant  is  the  thought  that  these 
were  senior  computer  science  students  at  a  na¬ 
tionally  recognized  institution  who  will  presum¬ 
ably  be  at  the  forefront  of  our  next  generation  of 
computer  people. 

Are  these  the  ethics  that  we  can  expect  to  be 
exercised  in  our  immediate  future?  1  find  the 
prospect  rather  disturbing. 

L.F.  Wygant 

Schiller  Park,  III. 

Frequency  Analysis  Critique  Valid 

Jen-Old  L.  Dykstra’s  response  |CW,  June  4]  to 
my  article  on  frequency  analysis  [May  21)  con¬ 
tained  a  very  valid  critique  of  many  systems 
cunently  in  operation. 

There  are  now  available  a  number  of  system 
design  and  programming  techniques  which  not 
only  improve  programmer  productivity,  but  sim¬ 
plify  program  maintenance,  documentation,  etc.  If 
these  tools  of  the  trade  were  utilized  at  the  start  of 
each  system’s  development  and  canied  through 
each  phase  of  modification  and  revision,  many  of 
the  computer  horror  stories  carried  in  the  general 
press  wouldn’t  have  happened. 

But  reality  continues  to  rear  its  ugly  head; 
systems  designed  years  ago  to  do  something  only 
vaguely  similar  to  what  they  currently  attempt  to 
do,  partially  documented  and  “basically”  de¬ 
bugged,  still  abound  in  great  numbers. 

Dykstra  pointed  out  that  I  did  not  emphasize  the 
use  of  frequency  analysis  in  the  creation  of  the 
system  from  which  I  took  an  example  of  poor 
coding  sequencing.  It’s  hard  to  argue  with  a  man 
when  he’s  right,  but  the  record-identifying  codes 
used  in  the  example  did  have  logically  func¬ 
tional  reasons  for  being. 


When  you  take  a  piece  of  code  out  of  the 
context  of  the  system  within  which  it  operates, 
you  sacrifice  system  comprehension.  In  attempting 
to  keep  the  article  brief,  I  excluded  an  explanation 
of  system  flow  and  operation. 

The  resequenced  code  is  slightly  harder  to  follow 
because  of  our  “logical”  compulsion  to  arrange 
values  in  ascending  order,  but  if  the  frequency 
analysis  had  been  included  as  comments  in  the 
source  listing  as  suggested,  the  rationale  of  the 
coding  structure  would  have  been  apparent. 

Louis  MUls 


Petaluma,  Calif. 


Respect  Closes  ' Open  Door' 

The  June  4  issue  of  Computerworld  carried 
reader  commentary  entitled  “IBM  Privacy  Princi¬ 
ples  Fail  to  Pass  Practical  Test.”  It  was  written  by 
a  former  IBM  employee,  Larry  Nye,  who  made  the 
point  that  he  was  not  permitted  to  review  the  file 
of  an  Open  Door  investigation  (an  IBM  procedure 
for  addressing  employees’  complaints)  conducted 
at  his  request.  This  is  correct. 

The  investigation  on  his  behalf  required  extensive 
interviews  with  many  other  employees.  To  permit 
his  review  of  the  statements  others  made  in  confi¬ 
dence  would  violate  their  privacy  and  ultimately 
erode  the  Open  Door  process  on  which  all  our 
employees  rely. 

One  essential  ingredient  of  the  Open  Door  proc¬ 
ess  is  the  knowledge  of  the  initiator  and  those 
questioned  that  their  statements  will  be  held  in 
strictest  confidence  by  the  executive  assigned  to 
the  case.  Information  obtained  in  the  Open  Door 
investigation  is  not  used  for  any  purpose  other 
than  the  resolution  of  the  circumstances  surround¬ 
ing  the  individual’s  complaint. 

We  believe  that  this  is  the  essence  of  respect  for 
individual  privacy. 

Frank  T.  Cary 
Chairman  of  the  Board 

IBM  Corp. 

Armonk,  N.Y. 


Worth  a  Thousand  Words 

The  photograph  on  the  front  page  of  the  May  21 
issue  is  graphic  evidence  that  one  picture  is  worth 
a  thousand  words. 

If  my  memory  is  correct,  there  was  a  Nicholas 
Katzenbach  who  served  as  U.S.  Attorney  General 
during  the  Johnson  Administration,  when  the  At¬ 
torney  General’s  Office  was  preparing  antitrust 


Katzenbach  now  appears  in  the  role  of  IBM’s 
defender? 

Not  only  is  IBM  a  dangerous  monopoly,  it  leaves 


Salt  Lake  City,  Utah 


June  25, 1975 


mCOMPtraWMU) 


bad  Kapur  never  told 
“structured  program- 
He  suggested  a  course 
outline  for  a  one-  or  two-week 
training  program  to  teach  a  sub¬ 
ject  which  remains  inadequately 
defined. 

Carl  E.  Gallagher 
San  Francisco,  Calif. 


A  Perfect  Example  Flexible  Spouses 


Gopal  Kapur’s  interesting  ar¬ 
ticle  [CW,  May  28]  on  struc¬ 
tured  programming  illustrated 
two  major  problems  facing  DP 
publications. 

The  first  is  our  Madison  Ave¬ 
nue  technique  of,  for  lack  of  a 
better  comparison,  putting  old 
wine  in  new  bottles  (that  is, 
taking  historical  concepts  and  re¬ 
issuing  them  emblazoned  with 


In  the  June  1 1  article  on  the 
Alaskan  network,  Don  Cowan 
“quipped”  that  his  employees 
need  “flexible  wives.” 

I  assume  from  his  comment 
Cowan  is  not  looking  for  female 
employees  -  or,  as  my  husband 
suggested,  perhaps  Cowan  was 
implying  that  men  are  not  “flex¬ 
ible”  enough  to  be  husbands  of 
his  employees? 

Carol  Loeb  Mir 


of  user  data  banks,  data  networks  or  number 
crunchers.  “Significant”  means,  say,  1%  of 
the  world  market,  and  draws  the  attention 
of  the  plug-to-plug  boys  and  the  software 
suppliers. 

By  “disappear,”  I  mean  either  explicit  or 
covert  but  obvious-to-customers  withdrawal 
from  the  marketplace.  There  may  be  an 
announcement  of  new  directions,  a  sale  of 
important  facilities  or  installed-machine 
base,  a  merger  with  another  company. 
Above  all,  major  development  of  the  next 
generation  of  equipment  is  halted. 

Now,  which  computer  companies  have  dis¬ 
appeared,  and  how  do  the  survivors  stand? 
Chronologically,  in  order  of  my  Munich 
dates,  the  picture  is  as  follows:  AEG/Tele- 
funken  was  to  succumb  in  1972,  and  was  in 
fact  forcibly  merged  with  Nixdorf  early  that 
year.  In  1 974,  after  Nixdorf  losses  from  the 
number-cruncher  business  became  insupport¬ 
able,  Siemens  was  “asked”  to  take  the  Tele- 
funken  problem  over,  by  the  German  gov¬ 
ernment. 

For  1973,  1  predicted  the  departure  of 
Xerox,  Philips  and  National  Cash  -  the  lat- 


taking  historical  concepts  and  re-  ible”  enough  to  be  husbands  of  eminent.  |  |  /  /-  . 

issuing  them  emblazoned  with  his  employees?  For  ,973.  1  Predicted  the  departure  of  II#*  7  f-n  / 

new  names);  the  second,  a  sus-  Carol  Loeb  Mir  Xerox,  Philips  and  National  Cash  -  the  lat- 

ceptibility  to  produce  reams  of  Baltimore,  Md. _ _ _ 

User  Specification  Problems  Can  Be  Handled  Wisely 


Page  !• 


1975 


Considerations  of  Law  Vital  to  Systems  Design,  Use 


e  ompuierworm  wiu  peri -  ed  m  his  wide-ranging  course  on  By  Roy  N.  Freed 

odically  carry  a  column  written  ‘  Legal  Aspects  of  Computer-  sp.ci.1  to  computerwond 

by  Roy  N.  Freed  on  the  legal  Communications  Technology"  Welcome  to  a  new  column  with 

aspects  of  computing.  a,  Boston  University's  Metro-  a  legal  flavor.  I  plan  to  treat  here 

Many  of  our  readers  will  recog-  P°«lan  College  and  in  his  various  the  wide  range  of  extremely 

nize  Freed  as  the  attorney  who  lectures  to  technical  and  legal  au-  varied,  u"«lue  legal  ramifications 
conducts  workshop  courses  on  diences.  of  computer-communications 

contracting  for  computers  and  Readen  are  inviled  submil  “  h"0°  °8f,;e  material  not  oniy 

ZTwri,ZZZenLWao°n  Z  *”  d‘~n  *  •'**  will  hdp  ^mputer  social*, 

umaue  Za!  asneZ  ^f  rtm  Um™-  They  are  asked  to  recog-  perform  their  duties  more  effec- 

unique  legal  aspects  of  com-  nize_  however  that  Freed  wil,  tjvely  bu(  also  wU,  provide  ,hem 


legal  considerations  pertinei 
computer  system  design  and 
By  giving  them, insights  intc 
legal  perspective,  they  shoul 


means  for  reinforcement  o 
those  rights  that  must  be  identi 
fied  as  being  available  in  a  wid 


Froma  Legal  Viewpoint 


Page  IS 
June  25.  1975 
Computerworld 


SOFTWARE&SERVICES 


Columbia  Unit  Finds 


' PHI  Payroll  II'  Footore 
Ties  Application  ta  IMS 

TEWKSBURY,  Man.  -  An  optional  in- 
terface  for  the  PHI  Payroll  II  system  from 
Wang  Computer  Services  allows  operation 
under  IBM’s  IMS/VS  data  base  environ- 

With  the  feature  in  place.  Payroll  II 
performs  all  payroll  and  personnel  proc¬ 
essing  against  a  single,  unified  base  of  all 
human  resources  data.  While  the  various 
applications  CALL  the  common  base, 
they  retrieve  only  the  information  re¬ 
quired  for  the  functions  they  handle, 
Wang  noted. 

The  interface  is  being  distributed  free 
with  the  Payroll  II  package,  a  spokesman 
added  from  836  North  St.,  01876. 

Rates  of  Return  on  Portfolios 
Measured  On-Line  or  in  Batch 

WALTHAM,  Mass.  -  Corporate  money 
managers  can  calculate  rates  of  return 
on-line  or  in  batch  mode  for  individual  or 
aggregate  portfolios  by  a  variety  of  asset 
types  by  utilizing  the  Xport  Performance 
Measurement  (XPM)  service  now  on  the 
Interactive  Data  Corp.  remote-computing 

XPM  monitors  common  and  preferred 
stocks,  bonds,  discount  instruments,  mis¬ 
cellaneous  assets  and  cash. 

Reports  show  both  time-weighted  and 
dollar-weighted  rates  of  return  using  cal¬ 
culation  methods  recommended  by  the 
Bank  Administration  Institute,  a  network 
spokesman  said  from  486  Totten  Pond 
Road,  02154. 

Service  Puls  Bank  Transactions 
On  Fiche  Between  Statements 

PRINCETON,  N.J.  -  Commercial  banks 
utilizing  the  DP  capabilities  of  National 
Computer  Analysts,  Inc.  (NCA)  for  their 
customer  accounting  can  now  answer 
checking  account  inquiries  quickly  and 
accurately  with  the  start  of  NCA’s  Linear 
Response  service.  It  puts  cumulative  ac¬ 
count  information  on  microfiche  so  that 


Students,  Staff  Savor  SPSS  Support 


Like  many  graduate  institutions,  Co¬ 
lumbia  University’s  Teachers  College  has 
found  faculty  and  student  use  of  comput¬ 
ing  as  an  analytic  tool  both  increasingly 
necessary  and  increasingly  expensive.  To 
stem  demands  for  access  to  pay-as-you-go 
outside  services,  the  Center  for  Comput¬ 
ing  and  Information  Management  Services 
(CCIMS)  -  the  DP  center  at  the  col¬ 
lege  -  decided  18  months  ago  to  install  a 
statistical  analysis  package  on  its  Bur¬ 
roughs  B4700  computer. 

After  a  careful  comparative  review  of 
capabilities,  scope  and  hardware  size  re¬ 
quirements,  the  Statistical  Program  for 
the  Social  Sciences  (SPSSG)  was  selected. 
No  version  existed  for  the  B4700  hard¬ 
ware  line,  so  the  most  recent  IBM  360 
version  was  acquired  from  the  owners, 
the  University  of  Chicago. 

Despite  some  misgivings  about  imple¬ 
menting  an  efficient  version  of  such  a 
large  (27,000  Fortran  statements)  scien¬ 
tific  system  on  the  decimal-oriented 
B4700,  the  conversion  implementation  of 
SPSSG  into  Fortiv  (the  B4700’s  best 
Fortran)  and  BPL  (the  B4700‘s  systems 
language)  began. 

Birth  of  a  System 

Within  nine  months  the  work  was  com¬ 
pleted  and  the  system  was  being  used  by 
students  and  faculty  in  a  production  ver¬ 
sion.  Within  12  months  of  beginning  the 
conversion,  monthly  student/faculty  use 
of  the  B4700  had  shot  up  to  10  times  the 
level  of  its  pre-SPSS  days,  and  the  pres¬ 
sure  to  use  outside  computing  installa¬ 
tions  had  appreciably  declined. 

Further  enhancements  to  the  package 


5ly  These  benefits  and  savings  were  antici- 
ro  pated  and  had  been  used  to  justify  the 
go  implementation  costs.  What  began  to  hap- 
Jt-  pen  shortly  after  implementation  was 
:es  completed,  however,  was  not  anticipated, 
ol-  but  greatly  added  to  the  savings  coming 
1  a  from  SPSS  availability  -  administrators 
ar-  “discovered”  the  package  was  a  valuable 
reporting  tool. 

of  Department  heads,  cost-center  heads 
re-  and  committee  chairmen  in  recent  yean 
or  have  sharply  increased  the  urgency  and 
id.  number  of  their  requests  for  activity, 
:d-  financial  and  cost-analysis  information  in 


formats  and  relationships  completely  out¬ 
side  the  scope  of  production  DP  reports 
already  programmed.  To  these  requests 
have  been  added  an  increasing  number 
coming  from  various  state  and  federal 
agencies  asking  for  peculiar  arrangements 
and  selections  of  data  on  facilities,  hiring 
practices,  academic  programs  and  charac¬ 
teristics  of  students  and/or  employees. 

Typically,  such  requests  are  for  one¬ 
time  reports  because  either  the  head, 
chairman,  or  administrator  wants  a  differ¬ 
ent  kind  of  quantity  of  information  or 
wants  it  in  a  different  format  each  time  a 
report  is  needed.  Attempting  to  satisfy 
such  requests  clearly  requires  some  kind 
of  utility  reporter  package,  and  the  col¬ 
lege  had  increasingly  utilized  Burroughs 


Industrial  Firms  Use  (Mini-Mii’ 
For  Nova-Based  Accounting  Runs 


ENGLEWOOD,  Colo.  -  Industrial  firms 
need  a  24K  Data  General  Nova  under 
RDOS  to  implement  manufacturing 
Mini-Miz,  an  on-line  cost  accounting/in¬ 
ventory  system  now  available  from  Auto¬ 
mated  Quill,  Inc.  (AQI). 

Functions  supported  include  a  blll-of- 
material  processor,  a  work-in-progress 
processor  and  finished  goods  inventory 
control.  Accounts  payable,  accounts  re¬ 
ceivable,  billing,  payroll  and  financial  re¬ 
porting  are  also  part  of  Mini-Miz,  AQI 


Net  Provides  'Compass’  for  CPA 

ANN  ARBOR,  Mich.  -  Certified  public  analysis  are  other  areas  already  heavily 
accountants  (CPA)  can  control  in-house  represented. 

operations  as  well  as  manage- client  work  A  general  ledger  system  to  support  the 
more  efficiently  with  the  Comshare  Pro-  CPA’s  internal  accounting  is  also  part  of 
fessional  Accounting  Systems  and  Serv-  Compass.  As  with  many  independent 


The  work-in-progress  processor  tracks 
each  job  from  purchase  order  to  comple¬ 
tion,  and  it  tracks  cost  of  labor,  raw 
materials  and  outside  services  as  well. 
Budgeting  reports  at  both  the  consoli¬ 
dated  and  detail  level  are  provided,  ac¬ 
cording  to  AQI. 

The  payroll  processing  modules  provide 
withholding  calculations  for  multiple 
states  or  other  taxing  jurisdictions.  Union 
reporting  is  included  in  this  part  of  Mini- 
Miz  if  required,  the  spokesman  noted. 

The  financial  reporting  capabilities  of 
the  package  encompass  general  ledger, 
income  statement,  balance  sheet  print- 


Suite  7,  3501  South  Corona  St.,  : 


Mowing  you 
off  course. "  z 

The  storm  clouds  ottoday's  economy  can  pack  IN  Rece 
a  powerful  wallop.  Don't  let  your  company  get  “** 
caught  unprepared,  losing  control  and  be-  M  nm 
coming  unprofitable.  M  am^ 
The  MMS  General  Ledger- because  of  its  olv 

nique  data-base  design  and  powerfully  flexible  KB 
report  writer-  gives  you  the  internal  control  to  maintain  Ej| 
profitability. 

than  200  leading  corporations  all  over  the  world  have  M  1 
the  MMS  General  Ledger  helps  them  stay  on  course  d  A 


1 


S  Si  SB  ZS  23  HI.  ¥32  SS  SI  S 

help  me  avoid  the  profit  squeeze.  Send  me  more  " 

ation  on  your  Survival  Strategies  for  the  Stormy  Seventies, 
eral  Ledger  □  Accounts  Payable  □Accounts 
able  □Payroll/Personnel  □  Material  Requirements  Planning  I 


jgggKJSSSEIflgi 

nisnngiEEffiasoiaML 

Elm  Square,  Andover,  Mass.  01810  (617)475-5040 

Nm  York  (S14)  332-0X0  Chicago  (3121 729-7410  Atlanta  (404)  2S6-0009 
San  Francisco  (408)  371 -0331  Loa  Angelas  (213)  796-4ZS6  Toronto  (416)  062-0621 


Free  'Debugger’  Adds  No  Test  Overheod 


FAIRFIELD,  N.J.  -  Report 
generation  may  be  as  simple 
as  laying  out  the  format  and 
contents  of  the  desired  out- 


BERKELEY,  Calif.  -  Progra 
ners  working  in  Assembler 
iny  of  the  higher-level  languat 


selection,  and  the  execution  may  partition  in  which  the  user  pro- 

run  until  a  program  check  occurs  gram  is  being  executed. 

or  for  a  certain  number  of  itera-  A  copy  of  Debugger  can  be 


overhead : 


Systems 
ty  of  Cal- 
DP  Cen- 


The  test  bed  supports  exec 
ion  of  IBM  360  load  modules 
abject  decks  interpretively,  wi 
aptions  to  print  out  register  co 
tents  and  core  contents. 


Ledger  Goins  Budgeting 

DES  PLAINES,  IU.  -  The  gen-  include  a  budgeting  subsystem, 
era]  ledger  package  introduced  The  basic  ledger  system  ad- 
by  Systems  Engineering  Corp.  dresses  standard  accounting 


rom  other 
debugging 


User  Control 


Gather.  Stuff. 
Forget  it  We’ve 
with  this  work  s 


'Score’  Manages 
Tasks  on  SEL  32 

FORT  LAUDERDALE,  Fla.  - 
The  SEL  Core-Resident  Execu- 


SALE# 

RENT 


June  25,  1975 


Page  T 


'Oasis’  DBMS  for  Uaiversitios 
Modified  for  Large-Scale  360s 


Dialog  Gains  Industry  Data 

SUNNYVALE,  Calif .  -  Immediate  cified  by  the  user, 
answers  to  questions  about  the  U.S.  The  facility  has  been  described  as 
industrial  economy  are  now  available  somewhat  equivalent  to  data  published 
to  users  of  Lockheed’s  Dialog  remote  by  Census  and  “County  Business  Pat- 
information  retrieval  service.  terns”  bulletins.  Unlike  Census  publi- 


ed  without  having  to  go  through  conven¬ 
tional  program  development  cycles. 
Equally  important,  probably,  are  the 


Distributors  Depead  oa  'Darts’ 


LOS  ANGELES  -  Wholesale  distri¬ 
butors  outgrowing  small  in-house  config¬ 
urations  such  as  IBM  System/3  can  utilize 
the  power  of  an  IBM  370  instead  by 
subscribing  to  the  Distributor’s  Auto¬ 
mated  Real-Time  System  (Darts)  now 
available  through  CMS  Industries,  Inc. 

Darts  is  a  table-driven  software  system 
linked  to  IBM’s  CICS  teleprocessing  mon¬ 
itor  stored  in  a  370/145  at  the  CMS 
computer  center  here. 

Without  front-end  programming  costs, 
the  system  provides  support  for  immedi¬ 
ate  generation  of  shipping  and  invoicing 
documents  and  periodic  preparation  of 
related  accounting  reports. 

Order  entry  is  monitored  through  screen 
displays  and  promptings  on  IBM  3270s  or 
Four  Phase  terminals  at  user  locations. 
Editing  of  the  new  input  includes  check¬ 
ing  the  credit  status  of  the  customer  and 
the  availability  of  the  items  requested. 

Shipping  papers  generated  are  in  bin 
location  sequence  in  order  to  simplify 


and  therefore  speed  up  warehouse  opera¬ 
tions.  Once  another  entry  indicates  the 
items  have  been  shipped.  Darts  generates 
fully  extended  invoices,  CMS  said. 

The  periodic  reports  generated  by  Darts 
range  from  inventory  management 
through  accounts  payable  and  receivable, 
and  they  include  general  ledger  and  sales 
analysis  as  well,  the  vendor  said.  The 
inventory  support  is  primarily  a  monitor¬ 
ing  function. 

The  payables  subsystem  provides  for 
both  initial  creation  and  maintenance  of 
an  open  item  file. 

The  receivables  processing  includes  ag¬ 
ing  of  outstanding  items  and  documenta¬ 
tion  of  unapplied  cash,  CMS  said. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  typical  Darts 
user,  CMS  said.  Currently,  usage  ranges 
from  5,000-  to  250,000  line  item/mo, 
and  costs  range  from  $2, 5 00/mo  to 
$100, 000/mo. 

CMS  Industries  is  at  5332  Harbor  St., 
90040. 


SPSS  Supports  Staff,  Students 


(Continued  from  Page  IS) 
Reporter  and  a  special  report  generator 
built  into  the  payroll  system  to  answer 
these  requests  prior  to  the  implementa¬ 
tion  of  SPSS. 

Like  most  utility  reporters,  the  Re¬ 
porter  and  payroll  report  writer  were 
good  at  extraction,  summarizing  and  de¬ 
tail  listing,  but  poor  at  crosstabulation,  a 
form  of  reporting  which  is  often  more 
valuable  than  details  or  summaries. 


of  SPSSG  on  the  B4700  was  completed, 
an  administrative  user  discovered  the 
powerful  breakdown  and  cross-tabulation 
capabilities  of  that  package  nicely  com¬ 
plemented  the  detail  and  linear  presenta¬ 
tion  capabilities  of  the  other  report  pack¬ 
ages. 

After  persuading  a  programmer  to 
create  a  version  of  the  student  data  file 
suitable  for  SPSS  accessing,  the  user  then 
proceeded  on  his  own  to  utilize  this  new 
tool  extensively  to  analyze  that  data  in 
crosstabular  fashion. 

The  results  were  so  useful  that  other 
major  data  files  on  personnel,  facilities 
and  academic  program  were  similarly 
made  accessible  to  SPSS.  Use  of  these 
SPSS  file  versions  by  nonprogramming 
end  users  began  immediately  and  has 
continued  to  expand  ever  since. 


only  minimal  and  occasional  assistance 
from  the  programming  staff,  despite  the 
complexity  and  diversity  of  many  of  the 
reports  needed.  Not  only  do  they  find 


The  Burroughs  version  of  SPSSG  is 
maintained  according  to  SPSS  guidelines 
originating  with  the  owners  so  that  users 
can  follow  the  documentation  published 
by  McGraw-Hill.  In  that  book,  SPSS, 
users  can  find  complete  descriptions  of  all 
capabilities  of  the  package  and  how  to 


The  need  to  spend  time  preparing  user 
documentation  has  also  thus  been  vir¬ 
tually  eliminated  and  amounts  to  no 
more  than  keeping  users  informed  of  any 
required  B4700  control  cards  needed  to 
execute  the  system. 

The  double  utility  of  SPSS  has  sug¬ 
gested  the  need  to  look  for  a  comparable 
potential  in  other  software  as  well.  Conse¬ 
quently,  the  college  is  looking  carefully  at 
the  possibility  of  using  Reporter  -  till 
now  seen  as  an  administrative  tool  -  for 
instructional  and  research  purposes. 

After  all,  there  may  be  a  sequel  to 
SPSS’s  success  as  an  administrator's  tool 
called  “Can  a  Poor  Little  Administrative 
Package  Make  Good  in  the  World  of 
Instruction?" 

Taylor  is  director  of  the  Center  for 
Computing  and  Information  Management 


BCS  helps 
fine  tune 
your  capacity 
management. 

Most  likely  your  data  processing  priorities  are  different 
from  the  multi-programmed  system  down  the  street 
Both  are  a  delicate  balance  of  turnaround,  thruput 
and  capacity  .  however,  emphasis  varies.  With  BCS. 
you  not  only  define  your  performance  standards,  but 
measure  your  productivity  against  them. 

How?  With  SARA— System  Analysis  and  Resource 
Accounting.  A  Boeing  Computer  Services'  exclusive. 
Because  SARA  monitors  what's  happening  using 
repeatable  Computer  Resource  Units  and  performance 
indicators,  negative  trends  are  spotted  before  they 
become  serious.  The  CRU  s  are  a  composite  of  each 
usable  system  resource  and  are  repeatable  every  time 
the  same  job  runs.  As  SARA  computes  your  system's 
thruput.  turnaround,  and  production  performance,  you 
can  relate  complex  computer  problems  to  all  levels  of 
management  in  simple  CRU  Per  Hour  terms  Changes 
can  be  compared  to  prior  processing  statistics. 

SARA'S  overview  is  supported  by  extensive  monitor¬ 
like  data  that  helps  you  pinpoint  potential  problems, 
solving  them  more  quickly.  We  know.  We  use  SARA  to 
measure  our  performance  with  many  of  our  more  than 
1.000  customers  and  The  Boeing  Company  For  more 
details,  please  call  us  now  or  mail  the  coupon  today 


COMMUNICATIONS 


One  of  Terminal's  First  Users 

IBM  3770  Performance,  Savings  Please  Service  Firm 


a  3774  80  char./sec  bidirec-  Synchronous  Data  Link  Control  (SDLC) 


KING  OF  PRUSSIA,  Pa.  -  One  of  the  Also  attached  is  a  S< 
first  users  of  the  IBM  3770  terminal  and  a  diskette  unit  on 
system  is  pleased  with  its  operation  and  the  company  is  "expert 
has  saved  money  compared  with  earlier  3740  input,  Comeaux  st 


ional  printer  and  a  377S  line  printer. 

Also  attached  is  a  50  card/min  reader 
nd  a  diskette  unit  on  one  terminal  that 


rrotocol,  but  this  would  mean  getting  rid  There  was  also  a  data  set  compatibility 
>f  the  Memorex  1 270s  and  replacing  problem  which  was  traced  to  a  lead  that 
hem  with  3705s  using  Vtam  with  NCP3,  had  been  allowed  to  float  on  the  3770 
which  is  the  latest  release  of  the  Network  instead  of  being  grounded.  It  was  rela- 
'ontrol  Program,  he  said.  tively  simple  to  ground  the  F 


at  hospi¬ 
tals  for  use  by  Shared  Medical's  customers. 
The  first  two  3770  systems  were  installed 
about  six  months  ago. 

The  IBM  terminals  are  accessing  a  hospi¬ 
tal  accounting  data  base  stored  on  an  IBM 
370/158  and  370/168.  The  mainframes 
have  four  Memorex  1270  front  ends  han¬ 
dling  the  terminals,  using  Team  in  binary 
synchronous  transmission  mode. 

The  3770s  replaced  2770s  at  the  DP 
center  and,  for  a  time.  Shared  Medical 
operated  both  terminals  concurrently  to 
compare  timings  between  the  machines. 

“There  are  more  features  on  the  3770 
that  are  desirable,”  Gil  Comeaux,  pro¬ 
grammer  analyst,  said.  While  keyboard 
corrections  were  virtually  impossible  on 
the  2770  without  a  CRT,  the  3770  makes 
corrections  without  having  to  rekey  an 


speed,  he  said.  This  comes  reasonably 
close  to  its  rated  capacity  of  a  3774 
because  of  the  space  compression, 
Comeaux  explained. 

The  600  bit/sec  lines  transmit  to  a 
network  hub  point  where  they  are  multi¬ 
plexed  into  a  2,400  bit/sec  data  stream 
using  a  Timeplex  multiplexer. 


Shared  Medical  has  found  “very  little 
wrong”  with  the  character  printer  on  the 
3770  systems.  It  has  very  few  moving 
parts  and  goes  to  the  next  print  position 
on  the  line  regardless  of  where  it  is, 
Comeaux  said.  This  bidirectional  action 
eliminates  wasted  time  for  returning  to 
the  margin  at  the  end  of  each  line. 

The  158  and  168  mainframes  operate 
under  OS/MFT  -  which  might  seem 


with  the  local  terminals.  1050  terminals  in  the  Shared  1 

Some  initial  problems  with  printer  tim-  network  with  3770s  if  the  experience 
ing  were  found  on  the  3775  at  2,400  with  the  remote  terminals  proves  reliable 
bit/sec.  The  printer  was  not  printing  the  over  the  coming  months.  One  of  the  local 
correct  characters,  but  this  turned  out  to  3770  terminals  has  been  operating  about 
be  a  microprogramming  problem  which  16  hours  per  day  without  a  major  me- 
was  easily  corrected  by  an  IBM  change  on  chanical  breakdown,  he  said. 

University  Puts  GA  Mini  to  Work 
On  Univoc  1108  Communicotions 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  Utah  -  Utilization  a  minicomputer,  it  therefore  is  easier  to 
and  convenience  always  have  been  major  implement  a  front-end  system, 
problems  with  large,  batch-oriented  com-  Boam  chose  the  minicomputer  solution 
puter  systems.  t0  implement  his  planned  network  of  128 

No  matter  how  efficiently  a  batch  job  on-line  asynchronous  terminals.  He  se- 


n  SPC-16/85  minicomputer  from 


Dataroute  is  a  data  coi 
service  offered  by  the  Cc 
munications  Group  of  th 
da  Telephone  System.  T 
ble  DUV  link  recently  w 


Double  DUV  sends  tw 
data  streams,  transmitting 
taneously  over  different  ro 


Users  of  the  terminals  are  clerical  per¬ 
sonnel,  stock  clerks,  salesmen,  purchasing 


NEWPORT  BEACH,  Calif.  -  A  MOS / 
LSI  data  modem  card  from  the  Collins 
Radio  Group  of  Rockwell  International 
was  designed  for  use  on  3002-type  uncon¬ 
ditioned  lines.  All  modulation,  demodula¬ 
tion  and  timing  recovery  functions  are 
performed  in  four  MOS/LS1  chips. 

The  TE-2400  modem  is  for  original 
equipment  manufacturer  (OEM)  applica¬ 
tions.  It  is  compatible  with  Bell  201 B  and 
201 C  modems  and  with  Collins  TE-236. 

A  strap  option  permits  the  modem 
equalizer  to  be  inserted  into  the  trans¬ 
mitter  or  receiver  circuits.  Modulation  is 
compatible  with  both  conventions  of 
CCITT  V.26.  The  digital  interface  is  in 
accordance  with  RS-232C  and  CCITT 


CDC  CRTs  Linked  to  IBM  CPU 
Form  Danish  Wholesaler’s  Net 

COPENHAGEN,  Denmark  -  A  network  agents  and  management.  Their  functions 
of  Control  Data  Corp.  communications  include  entering  orders,  initiating  custom- 


terminals  linked  to  an  IBM  mainframe  is  er  invoices,  receiving  customer  payments, 
enabling  a  building  hardware  wholesaler  ordering  new  stock,  initiating  payment  to 
here  to. control  inventory,  serve  custom-  suppliers  and  querying  sales,  inventory  or 
ers  and  respond  to  suppliers. 

Carl  F.  Petersen  is  the  largest  supplier  of  _  • 

hardware  to  the  Danish  building  industry.  |  q  r  ~  | 

Its  18  warehouses  stock  200,000  dif-  I  V?  I  I  I  I  1 1  I  CJ  I 

ferent  items,  ranging  from  door  hinges  _ 

and  brackets  to  large  woodworking  ma-  T  mnCnrflAnC 

:hines,  for  a  total  inventory  of  240.000  I  I  vJ  I  I  O  V-J  V-  I  I U  I  1  J 


EE3  COMPUTER  WORLD 


Double  DUV  Debuts  on  Dataroute 


PHgWlij 


OEM  Modem  Card 
Designed  for  3002s 


Page  21 
June  25,  I97S 
Computerworld 


SYSTEMS&PERIPHERALS 


Bits  &  Pieces 

Staa-Data  Key  Entry  Gets 
CommunUations  Capability 

NORRISTOWN,  Pa.  -  Scan-Data  Corp. 
has  brought  its  key-to-disk  system  into 
the  “distributed  processing”  arena  by 


Terminals  Access  Either  CPU 


Sigma  9,  IBM  370  Pairing  Benefits  Firm 


By  Walter  R.  Welch  The  production  operating  system  is  VS2  ripheral  control  language  (PCL)  proces 

special  to  computarworid  and  Release  1.6.  Hasp  controls  12  is  particularly  handy. 

By  placing  a  Xerox  Sigma  9  alongside  an  synchronous  RJE  ports,  which  terminate  Tapes  generated  by  CP-V  show  some 
IBM  370/168,  Motorola,  Inc.  has  been  in  a  Memorex  1270  communications  con-  oversights,  namely  the  unchangeable  de- 
able  both  to  improve  service  to  batch  trailer.  fault  of  800  bit/in.  when  a  1 ,600  bit/in. 

terminal  users  and  avoid  duplication  of  Applications  running  on  the  168  are  tape  has,  in  fact,  been  generated;  also, 
hardware  costs.  TSO,  IMS,  batch  and  various  on-line  ap-  CP-V  fails  to  set  a  block  flag.  Both  of 

The  company  has  linked  the  Xerox  plications  using  Team  as  a  communica-  these  major  problems  were  patched 


June  25,  1975 


Datapro  Finds  IBM-Equivalent  Disk  Drives  Please  Users 

DELRAN,  N.J.  -  Users  of  basis  of  their  experience  with  39%  put  down  good  marks,  15%  3330  users  were  pleased  with  the  (STC)  3335,  however,  beat  both 

IBM-compatible  disk  drives  are  2,015  non-IBM  disk  drives.  fair  and  6%  poor.  hardware  reliability  of  the  prod-  in  the  ease  of  operations  cate- 

generally  well  pleased  with  their  In  evaluating  the  overall  per-  Maintenance  service  brought  uct.  For  this  category,  the  users  gory  with  a  4  rating  from  its 
overall  performance  and  reli-  formance  of  their  drives,  47%  of  the  fewest  excellent  marks,  with  gave  their  IBM  drives  a  3.8  rating  users.  Memorex  3670  and  Telex 

ability,  despite  the  fact  that  only  the  users  gave  non-IBM  drives  an  only  35%  of  the  users  checking  on  a  scale  in  which  4  meant  6330  users  rated  their  unif 


Actuators  are  the  guts  of 
any  disc  drive.  Compare 
lomec’s  rotary  against  the 
world’s  voice  coils. 


Think  about  what  our  rotary  actuator  does  for  a 
disc  drive.  It’s  the  actuator’s  size,  weight,  power, 
position  accuracy  and  reliability  that  dictate 
the  drive’s  design  parameters.  That’s  why  we 
designed  a  rotary  to  replace  our  old  voice 
coil  actuator. 

Voice  coils  can  weigh  25  pounds  (384  cu.in.),  but 
our  rotary  weighs  7.5  pounds 
(153  cu.in.).  That’s 
how  we  got  our 
Series  3000  disc 
*Sj|i  drives  down 
■SBMl  to  65  pounds, 
including  in- 
tegral  power 
supply,  and 
8.7"x19"x  22" 

IB  dimensions. 


Power?  It  effects  heat,  cooling  air,  user  costs, 
and  reliability.  Here’s  a  contrast  you  can’t  ignore: 
rotary  40  watts  and  voice  - 
coil  140  watts  — 
steady  state.  Drive 
operational  com¬ 
parisons  are: 
rotary  drives  150 
watts,  and  voice 
coil  drives  up  to 
600  watts.  That 
explains  why  some 
companies  need  external 
power  supplies. 


As  you  might  have  guessed,  drive  manufacturers 
don’t  like  to  be  compared  to  lomec.  It’s  not  just 
our  actuator,  but  all  the  Series  3000  features, 
including:  100-200  tpi,  6-12  Mbyte,  front  loader, 
top  loader,  and  dual  fixed  disc  models,  all  with 
90%  parts  commonality. 

*  1 


If  you  buy  disc  drives,  call  our  Director  of 
Marketing,  Terry  Sweet,  (408)  246-2950.  He  has 
a  detailed  comparison  chart,  a  plane  ticket,  and 
a  rotary  actuator  in  his  briefcase.  Call  Terry 
and  compare  — just  once. 

iomec  inc 

3300  Scott  Boulevard 

Santa  Clara,  CA  95050 


iomec  inc 


Page  24 


m  COMPUTER  WOULD 


June  25,  1975 


In  Switch  From  2314 -Type  Drives 

IBM  3330  Equivalents  Boost  360/65  Throughput  38% 


By  •  cw  staff  writer 

ST.  LOUIS  -  Washington  University’s 
Computing  Facility  recently  boosted 
throughput  on  its  IBM  360/65  by  38%  by 
upgrading  its  disk  storage  from  IBM 

2314-type  disk  drives  to  IBM  3330 

equivalents. 

The  University  Computing  Facility  staff 

felt  later-generation  disks  would  bring 

greater  capacity  for  its  research,  educa¬ 

tional  and  administrative  workload,  ac¬ 
cording  to  Vernon  Kramme,  assistant  di¬ 
rector  of  the  center. 

Although  IBM  would  not  supply  3330 

drives  to  the  360  shop,  Memorex  was 

willing  to  make  the  software  modifica¬ 
tions  to  allow  its  3670  units  to  work  with 
the  360/65,  Kramme  said. 

The  shop  previously  had  16  California 
Computer  Products  (Calcomp)  2314-type 


units  with  29M  bytes  capacity  each. 

The  10  Model  3670  modules,  each  with 
dual  drives  of  260M  byte/module,  give 
the  University  Computing  Facility  more 
than  four  times  its  previous  on-line  disk 
storage  capacity.  In  addition,  cost  per 

byte  of  storage  has  been  reduced  with  the 

3670s. 

Fewer  Pack  Changes 
“Our  older,  low-capacity  disks  required 
operators  to  change  packs  almost  on  an 
average  of  one  a  minute.  With  our  fully 

resident  system,  we  change  packs  ap¬ 

proximately  once  a  shift. 

“The  three-shift  facility  has  reduced  its 
daily  operating  hours  ...  in  spite  of  in¬ 
creased  workloads  since  installing  the 
Memorex  disks,”  Kramme  said. 

Because  of  interruptions  for  disk  pack 


changes  and  slower  access  time  and  data 
transfer  rates,  “we  were  simply  I/O 
bound  -  too  many  peripherals  in  conten¬ 
tion  for  the  same  channel,”  he  continued. 

The  average  rated  access  time  of  the 
3670  disk  subsystem  is  64%  faster  than 

the  prior  2314-type  equipment  (27  msec, 

down  from  75  msec);  the  data  transfer 

rate  improvement  is  61%  (806K  byte/sec 
up  from  3I2K  byte/sec). 

The  plug-  and  software-compatible  disk 
subsystem  requires  the  use  of  a  standard 
selector  channel  attachment.  A  software 
simulation,  providing  IBM  360  and  Mem¬ 
orex  3670  compatibility  by  effectively 
changing  the  selector  channel  to  a  block 

multiplexer  channel,  allows  full  realiza¬ 

tion  of  rotational  positional  sensing. 

This  benefit  to  system  throughput, 
spawned  with  the  current  generation  of 


Your 
search 
for  the 
best  financial 
control  software  just  came  to  a  hah. 

You’ve  just  found  it  The  (JCC  Financial 
Control  System.  The  best  financial  control 
software  you’ll  find.  There  are  over  103 
reasons  why: 

First  it’s  the  most  complete  system  of 
its  type.  It  features 

•  A  single  financial  data  base  •  Full  gen¬ 
eral  ledger  accounting  •  Budget  prepara¬ 
tion  and  review  •  Responsibility  reporting 

•  Cost  allocation  and  profit  center  report¬ 
ing  •  Product  costing  •  Statistical  accu¬ 
mulation  and  reporting  •  Automated 
systems  interface  •  Flexible  reporting 

•  Easy  to  use  report  writer  •  Foreign 
currency  accounting. 

Second,  fourth  generation  design  with  a 
single  master  file  affords  easier  installation 
and  maximum  operational  efficiency/ reli¬ 
ability.  It  allows  user  control  with  a 
minimum  of  EDP  intervention.  Documen¬ 
tation  is  outstanding. 

Third,  it’s  backed  by  the  long-term 
maintenance  and  reliable  support  of  one 
of  the  largest  and  most  advanced  com¬ 
puter  services  companies  in  the  world 
-(JCC. 


The  other  100  plus  reasons  are  the 
satisfied  users  of  (JCC  FCS.  They’re  the 
best  possible  reasons  why  you  should 
check  out  the  (JCC  Financial  Control 
System  today. 


The  (JCC  Financial  Control  System. 


When  you  have 
the  best  people,  you 
have  the  best 
product. 


UNIVERSITY  COMPUTING  COMPANY 

7200  Stemmons  Freeway  •  P.O.  Box  4791 1  •  Dallas,  Texas  75147 
A  Wyly  Company 


disks,  allows  the  disk  control  unit  and  the 
data  channel  to  disconnect  during  search 
time.  As  a  result,  the  CPU  is  free  for 
other  operations  while  a  read/write  head 
seeks  a  disk  track. 

Software  support  for  the  selector  chan¬ 

nel  is  maintained  by  Memorex  within  the 
OS/MVT  Hasp  Release  21.7  operating 

system.  Basically,  this  amounts  to  insert¬ 

ing  Assembler  code  modifications  within 
the  output  supervisor  of  the  operating 


retry  (automatic  error  re¬ 
covery  without  interruption  to  host  CPU) 
is  provided  through  both  the  software 

modification  and  as  a  function  of  hard- 

“With  throughput  up  by  38%,  we  can 
continue  an  open-door  policy  to  our  users 
instead  of  limiting  the  jobs  we  accept,” 
Robert  Benson,  director  of  the  University 
Computing  Facility,  said. 

So  far,  hardware  reliability  of  the  3670s 
and  maintenance  service  on  them  has 
been  excellent,  Kramme  concluded. 


Cyberex  SH  Inverter 
Said  to  Quiet  UPS 

MENTOR,  Ohio  -  Static  uninterrupti¬ 
ble  power  systems  (UPS)  located  in  rela¬ 
tively  confined  areas  where  people  work 
produce  unacceptable  noise  levels  from 
the  inverter  section,  according  to  Cy¬ 
berex,  Inc. 

The  firm  says  il  has  a  quiet  design, 
designated  the  SH  inverter,  in  which  noise 
has  been  suppressed  to  less  than  65  deci¬ 
bels  at  five  feet  with  ratings  up  to  75 
kVA. 

SH  inverters  are  available  in  25-  and  75 
kVA  capacities  and  other  sizes  on  special 
order.  A  75  kVA  unit  with  three-phase 
output  costs  about  $60,000. 

The  firm  is  at  7171  Industrial  Park 
Blvd.,  44060. 

Teledyne  Converter 
Works  With  370s 

GARDENA,  CaUf.  -  The  Teledyne  Inet 
Series  75  kVA  solid-state  frequency  con¬ 
verter  for  converting  60  Hz  power  to  400 
Hz,  1 20/208  Vac,  three-phase  power,  is 
said  to  be  especially  useful  with  IBM  370 
systems. 

The  converter  can  be  located  in  the 
computer  room.  It  eliminates  the  separate 
400  Hz  power  run  required  when  power 
equipment  must  be  located  in  a  ma¬ 
chinery  room,  the  vendor  said. 

If  desired,  the  frequency  converter  can 
be  supplied  in  an  uninterruptible  power 
system  (UPS)  configuration.  In  this  con¬ 
figuration,  neither  failure  nor  restoration 
of  the  60  Hz  utility  power  has  any  effect 
on  the  400  Hz  output  to  the  computer. 

The  Series  75  converters  cost  between 
$40,000  and  $45,000  from  the  firm  at 
711  W.  Knox  St.,  90248. 

Binding  System  Permits 
Edge-to-Edge  Visibility 

INDIANAPOLIS  -  The  Planax  binding 
system  from  Cummins-Allison  Corp.  is 
said  to  allow  binding  of  fanfolded  com¬ 
puter  printouts  for  100%  edge-to-edge 
visibility. 


is  the  r< 


rack  and  then  applies  a  synthetic 
plastic  resin  to  the  spine  of  materials. 
After  attaching  a  strip  of  gauze  and  ap¬ 
plying  a  second  coat  of  resin,  the  user 
places  the  report,  in  its  clamping  bar, 
under  the  Planax  infrared  lamp  for  three 
to  five  minutes  of  drying. 

The  Planax  binding  system  costs  $600 
from  the  firm  at  P.O.  Box  102, 46206. 


mmicompuTERS 
an d  smdLL  svsTEms 

A  COMPUTERWORLD  SPECIAL  REPORT  JUNE  25, 1975 


MSIDE 

Use  of  Minis  to  Continue  to  Grow,  Change,  Adapt . S/2  Food  Storage  Firm  Levels  Mountain  of  Paperwork  . S/10 

Big  Business  Demand  for  Small  Systems  Expected  to  Grow  . . .  S/3  Construction  Firm’s  Small  System  Handles  Many  Tasks . S/12 

Better  Equipment  Ending  Problems  Found  in  Past . S/4  Vendors  Express  Respect,  Faint  Praise  for  System/32 . S/13 

Hardware  Purchase  Handles  College's  Total  DP  Needs . S/5  Small  Business  Becoming  Prime  Target  of  DP  Industry  . S/16 

Midis  Challenge  Medium-Size  Systems . S/6  Medical  Center  Seen  Increasing  in  Low-Cost  System  Mart  .  . .  S/20 

Transportation  Control  System  Updates  ‘Iron  Horse’ . S/8  Functional  Approach  Key  to  Buying  Turnkey  System . S/21 

This  Special  Rap  Oft  nil  praparad  undar  tha  diraction  of  CW  Aoociata  Editor  Vic  F  armor. 


PAGE  S/2 


mCOMPUTIRWOgLD 


JUNE  25, 1975 
MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS 


Directions,  Applications  Unlimited 


Use  of  Minis  to  Continue  to  Grow,  Change,  Adapt 


By  Daniel  I.  Tanner 

Special  to  Computer  world 

Amorphous.  That’s  the  thought.  The 
minicomputers  of  our  times  have  as  many 
applications  and  directions  in  which  to  go 
as  they  have  sizes,  shapes  and  definitions. 

The  range  of  current  minicomputer  sizes 
extends  from  the  LSI  and  board-level 
implementations  through  the  intelligent 
terminals,  remote  batch  terminals  and 
remote  job  entry  terminals. 

It  gathers  in  the  business,  scientific, 
laboratory  and  instrumentation  mini¬ 
computers.  It  encompasses  dedicated 
minicomputers  of  all  classes  from  the 
smallest  units  running  read-only-memory 
(ROM)-coded  routines  to  the  most  ambi¬ 
tious  front-end  systems,  data  base  mini¬ 
systems  and  large  real-time  and  time¬ 
sharing  minicomputers;  and  it  culminates 
in  full-fledged,  powerful  computers  with 

a  million  or  more  main  storage  locations 

and  a  stable  of  peripherals  and  library  of 
software  to  match,  or  at  least  comple¬ 
ment,  their  capabilities. 

But  still,  the  woodwork  keeps  pouring 
out  “experts"  loudly  proclaiming  the 
death  of  minicomputers.  They  may  say 
the  “basic  iron”  market  will  be  entirely 
taken  over  by  microprocessors;  or  that 
microcomputers  will  submerge  all  mini¬ 
computers  in  dedicated  applications,  and 
the  largest  minicomputers  available  are 
really  “midicomputers”  which  are  doom¬ 
ed  to  be  defeated  by  the  systems  offered 
by  the  major  general-purpose  mainframe 
vendors.  Hogwash.  Or  more  assertively, 
hogwash  and  wax. 

One  can’t  kill  a  concept  by  redefining  it. 
The  majority  of  minicomputer  manufac¬ 
turers  are  in  fighting  trim,  hardened  by 
the  tough  economic  climate  and  proven 
by  past  competitive  conflicts.  And  their 
genes  are  plastic. 

What’s  more,  the  minicomputer  manu¬ 
facturers  are  even  better  suited  to  face 
the  Darwinian  economic  jungle  than  are 
those  with  merely  the  ability  to  evolve. 
Like  nomads,  they  can  readily  adapt  to 
new  situations. 

How  Minis  Have  Adapted 
Just  look  at  each  adaptation  of  mini¬ 
computers  as  a  trend: 

•  The  incredible  shrinking  minis.  These 
are  the  products  of  the  progressive  com¬ 
pacting  of  minicomputers,  using  each  new 
technology  when  (and  sometimes,  tragi¬ 
cally,  before)  it  becomes  economically 
feasible.  Are  these  microcomputers,  or 
just  smaller  minis?  Doesn’t  it  depend  on 
the  source?  After  all,  isn’t  a  Univac  1110 
a  microcomputer  when  compared  to  a 
Univac  I? 

But  when’s  the  last  time  anyone  called 
an  1 1 10  a  microcomputer  or  even  a  mini¬ 
computer?  Keep  this  in  mind :  Many  mini¬ 
computer  vendors  have  been  producing 
TTL-MSI  board-level  minicomputers  for 
several  years  now  as  their  business  main¬ 
stream,  and  many  of  these  are  now  mov¬ 
ing  into  LSI  implementations. 

What’s  more,  the  largest  companies  in 
the  minicomputer  industry  all  seem  to  be 
either  buying  or  setting  up  LSI  capabili¬ 
ties  of  their  own. 

•  Kareem  Abdul  minicomputers.  These 
are  the  ones  that  have  grown  (figura¬ 
tively)  seven  feet  tall.  While  it’s  clear 
they’ll  never  take  over  the  entire  game, 
the  power  and  capabilities  of  these  ex¬ 
panded  minicomputers  are  simply  impos¬ 
sible  to  ignore. 

They  do  have,  however,  two  limitations: 
Too  often  the  manufacturer  doesn’t  have 
control  of  the  cost  of  the  progressively 
more  powerful  peripherals  required  to 
make  them  fulfill  their  potential;  and 
their  software,  while  quantum  leaps 
ahead  of  some  very  recent  expectations, 
still  cannot  compare  in  its  totality  to  the 
established  software  of  the  major  main¬ 
frame  vendors. 


The  makers  of  these  large  minicomputer 
systems  are  facing  those  facts  squarely, 
and  are  making  adjustments,  ranging  from 
direct  showdowns  with  targeted  competi¬ 
tors  ...  to  the  beachhead  approach  of 
establishing  a  niche  in  the  large  computer 
applications  spectrum.  (This  last  ap¬ 
proach  is  commonly  known  as  “bridging 
the  gap,”  an  analogy  it  is  hoped  will  soon 
pass  on  due  to  terminal  triteness.) 

•  The  mini  of  a  thousand  faces.  Micro- 
programmability  is  a  feature  not  found 
often  enough  in  the  current  micro¬ 
computers  and  usually  too  tightly  con¬ 
trolled  by  those  major  mainframe  vendors 
whose  machines  may  have  the  capability. 

Some  minicomputers  have  been  success¬ 
ful  as  microprogrammed  or  micropro- 
grammable  machines  for  a  few  years  now, 
and  most  of  the  mini  makers  have  jumped 
onto  the  bandwagon.  The  capability  to 

microprogram  at  the  user  level  is  now, 

and  will  continue  to  be,  a  major  sustain¬ 
ing  feature  of  many  minicomputer  lines. 

Coping  With  Changes 

Like  all  manufacturers,  the  mini¬ 
computer  vendors  will  have  to  face  more 
changes  in  the  future  -  some  very  soon, 
some  still  quite  a  way  off;  some  helpful 
to  them,  and  some  that  will  pose  obsta¬ 
cles. 

We  think  they  can  cope  with  the 
changes  successfully.  To  support  our  be¬ 
lief,  we  point  out  that  efforts  directed 
against  the  mini  vendors  to  date  have 
nearly  all  failed.  (As  for  the  companies 
that  have  introduced  their  own  minis, 
their  efforts  haven’t  beaten  anyone,  but 
rather,  they’ve  joined  them.) 

One  change  the  minicomputer  vendors 
are  currently  facing  up  to  is  that  of 


large-scale  integration  technology.  They 
are  buying  it,  developing  it  and/or  using 
it,  as  they  have  done  with  every  tech¬ 
nology  developed  in  the  short  history  of 
the  minicomputer  trade. 

TTL,  bipolar,  PMOS,  NMOS,  CMOS, 
Schottky  and  SOS  are  all  minicomputer 
buzzwords  now,  and  I2L,  CCD,  bubble 
and  even  GS1  (grand-scale  integration, 
one  just  coined)  probably  will  soon  be. 

Software  Progressing 

Software  for  minicomputers  is  progress¬ 
ing  on  two  major  fronts.  First,  the  range 
of  sophisticated  software  tools  currently 
available  -  especially  from  the  big  mini¬ 
computer  vendors,  but  also  from  many  of 
the  “iron”  vendors  -  is  becoming  truly 
impressive.  Many  of  the  major  and  OEM- 
only  minicomputer  vendors  have  man¬ 
aged  to  neatly  duck  the  “hand-holding” 
responsibilities  that  encumber  the  major 

mainframe  suppliers  by  using  systems 
and/or  turnkey  houses  to  develop  the 
applications  programs  for  their  cus- 

And,  recently,  a  third  way  of  carrying 
the  software  burden  that  naturally  falls 
on  the  shoulders  of  any  large-scale  system 
manufacturer  has  evolved.  That  approach 
has  been  to  carefully  target  the  large  mini 
and  its  software  tools  toward  a  specific 
application  and  a  specific  group  of  so¬ 
phisticated  end  users. 

Peripherals  are  still  a  question,  though. 
Some  analysts  state  that  the  distinction 
between  computer  vendors  and  compo¬ 
nent  vendors  (considering  board-level 
minis  and  micros  as  “commodities”)  will 
be  decided  by  the  ability  to  provide 


control  costs  and  the  prices  to  their  cus¬ 
tomers? 

They  have  a  point.  Now,  that  is;  but 
“everything  passes,  everything  changes,” 
as  Bob  Dylan  wrote.  Technological  ad¬ 
vances  can’t  be  swept  under  the  rug. 

The  fact  is,  many  of  these  mini  manu¬ 
facturers  are  fortunate  not  to  be  deeply 
committed  to  peripheral  manufacture  at 
this  time,  because  the  magnetic  storage 
peripheral  market  may  be  starting  to  turn 
soft. 

Disk  capacities  and  transfer  rates  keep 
spurting  upward,  making  last  year’s  (or 
last  month's)  disk  drive  and  subsystem 
prices  (figured  on  a  cost/bit  basis)  less 
and  less  of  a  bargain. 

Mini  manufacturers  win  be  forced  to 
upgrade  the  data  I/O  capabilities  of  their 
products,  no  matter  whether  rotating 
magnetic  storage  or  some  other  mass  stor¬ 
age  technology  is  to  be  used.  So  many  of 
them  won’t  have  to  scrap  an  investment 
to  accommodate  a  new  technology,  such 
as  charge-coupled  devices. 

What  are  users’  needs  now?  A  com¬ 
munications  front-end?  A  data  base  sys¬ 
tem?  A  data  network?  Real-time?  Numer¬ 
ical  control?  A  system  controUer?  Does  it 
have  to  be  so  big?  So  small?  Solid-state? 
Ruggedized?  Tailored  in  hardware? 
Chiseled  in  stone  (ROM)?  Chiseled  in 
putty  (programmable  read-only  mem¬ 
ory)? 

Well,  it  can  be  found  in  today’s  mini¬ 
computer  marketplace.  Then  why  should 
anyone  imagine  not  being  able  to  find 
tomorrow’s  products  in  tomorrow’s  mini¬ 
computer  marketplace? 

Tanner  is  managing  editor  of  Datapro 
Reports  on  Minicomputers,  a  mini¬ 
computer  industry  reference  source. 


Research  at  Ciba-Geigy  Aided  by  HP  3000 


peripherals  of  their  own  manufacture. 
How  else,  these  analysts  ask,  can  vendors 


JUNE  25,  1975 

MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS  COMPUTERWORLD  PAGE  S/3 


HP  3000  Proves  Tool  of  Value 
For  Scientists  at  Ciba-Geigy 

(Continued  from  Page  S/2)  pansion  are  of  foremost  importance  i 

center’s  programs  are  written  in  Fortran,  our  operation.” 

According  to  Sager,  developmenj  of  all  Restricted  to  four  one-hour  blocks  i 


Accessibility,  flexibility  and  future  ex- 

Big  Business  Demand 
For  Small  Systems 
Expected  to  Increase  ' 

IRVINE,  Calif.  -  A  type  of  computer 
that  was  originally  designed  for  use  in 
small  businesses  will  find  a  major  market 
in  a  most  unlikely  place  -  big  businesses, 
according  to  A.M.  Cosentino,  president  of 
Basic/Four  Corp. 

There  are  numerous  cases  where  large 
companies  are  already  incorporating 
small,  simple  computers  into  operations 
that  also  include  large  DP  systems.  In 
such  instances,  the  minicomputer  is  used 
to  perform  a  specific,  routine  task  -  one 
that  doesn’t  lend  itself  to  the  use  of  a 
large  system. 

“We  expect  to  see  minicomputers  con¬ 
trolling  more  and  more  factories,  ware¬ 
houses  and  offices  as  well  as  uncomputer¬ 
ized  functions  like  time  clocks,  badge 
readers,  process  control  machinery,  qual¬ 
ity  assurance  and  other  systems  that  can 
be  automated  for  a  very  small  expendi- 

“At  the  same  time,  the  small  computer 
will  be  used  in  divisions  and  branches  of 
large  companies  in  much  the  same  way  as 
it  is  used  in  smaller  firms:  timely  and 
accurate  reporting  systems,  personnel 
scheduling,  inventory  and  production 
control  and  cash  flow  systems,”  Cosen¬ 
tino  predicted. 

He  pointed  out  there  are  a  number  of 
reasons  the  small  business  computer  will' 
proliferate  in  big  business,  but  three  stand 


Randal  Data  Systems— 

We  Make  it  Easy  for  You 
To  Make  Your  Business  Bettor, 

WANT  TO  IMPROVE  YOUR  BUSINESS  OPERATION  BY  MOVING  UP 
TO  DATA  PROCESSING? 

Now  you  can  afford  to  get  serious  about  it.  because  we'll  sell  you  our  new 
LINK-100  minicomputer  system  for  a  mere  $12,000.  Or  we’ll  lease  you  one  for  only 
$334/month,  including  full  maintenance.  Complete  with  software.  Backed  up 
by  our  experience  in  supplying  minicomputer  systems  and  application  software  to 
business. 

LINK-100  makes  it  easy  (remember  the  $12,000  price  tag)  for  the  small  businessman 
to  automate  his  payroll,  accounts  receivable,  accounts  payable,  billing,  inventory 
control,  general  ledger  and  other  accounting  functions.  And  it’s  not  a  "dead-end" 
system.  As  your  business  grows,  LINK-100  is  fully  expandable,  and  is  program- 
compatible  with  any  of  the  other  business  minicomputer  systems  in  the  RDS 
family. 

LINK-100  comes  with  a  powerful  32K  character  processor,  a  data  input/display 
terminal,  a  dual  floppy  disk  drive  with  1 .2  million  character  capacity,  and  the  Randal 
Timesharing  Operating  System.  Available  options  include  additional  dual  floppy 
disk  drives,  a  2780  communications  package,  a  choice  of  line  printers,  and  expanded 
core  to  64K  characters. 

Call  us  collect,  or  write,  and  we’ll  link  you  up  to  one  of  our  Distributors  who 
can  show  you  why  UNK-100  is  the  easy  way  ($12,000,  remember?)  lor  you  to  make 
your  business  better. 


JUNE  25, 1975 

PAGE  S/4  1133  COMPUTERWORLD  minicomputers  and  small  systems 

User  Survey  Finds 

Better  Equipment  Ending 
Problems  Found  in  Past 

By  Patrick  Ward  he  asked  as  examples, 

ot  the  cw  staff  “A  lot  of  people  get  misled  into  as- 

Distributed  System  Saves 

TORONTO  -  Bristol  Myers  Products  Datapoint’s  Datashare  software  for 
Canada  has  taken  a  “distributed  proc-  head  office  work, 
essing”  approach  to  minicomputer  use  Each  of  the  coast-to-coast  regional 

by  putting  a  system  in  each  of  six  centers  now  has  its  own  customer  file, 
regional  centers  across  the  country.  its  own  product  file  with  inventory 

Previously,  the  remote  sites  had  information  and  an  outstanding-order 
mailed  in  copies  of  manually  created  file.  The  latter  file  is  backed  up  on  a 
shipping  documents  for  processing  at  cassette  daily.  The  other  files  are 
the  firm’s  headquarters  here,  according  backed  up  in  Toronto, 
to  Tony  Holmes,  the  company’s  direc-  In  the  daytime,  the  staff  at  each 

JUNE  25, 1975 

MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS 


PAGE  S/5 


MComtowwid _ 

Hardware  Purchase  Handles  College’s  Total  DP  Needs 


FRANKLIN,  Mass.  -  Although  mini- 
computers  are  often  overlooked  when  it 
comes  to  standard  administrative  proc¬ 
essing,  Dean  Junior  College  here  found  a 
mini  was  the  best  answer  to  its  total  DP 
requirements. 

The  school  followed  a  traditional  hard¬ 
ware  path  of  manual  methods,  tab  equip¬ 
ment  and  an  IBM  360/20  card  system 
with  the  multifunction  card  machine. 

In  1969-70  it  taught  the  first  two- 
semester  sequence  of  “Introduction  to 
EDP/Business  Computer  Programming” 
with  the  20,  followed  by  three  years  of 
Basic  time-sharing  as  part  of  a  nearby 
computer  consortium. 

In  1972,  it  replaced  the  Model  20  with  a 
rented  NCR  Century  50  disk  system.  The 
year  1973  was  significant,  because  it  re¬ 
ceived  a  federal  grant  toward  the  pur¬ 
chase  of  a  minicomputer  system  for  Basic 
student  programming. 

The  800-full-time-student  college  was 
able  to  justify  the  purchase  solely  because 
of  the  elimination  of  the  time-sharing 
costs.  A  Data  General  Corp.  Nova  840 
system  with  24K  16-bit  words,  two 
1.2-M-word  disk  cartridge  drives,  card 
reader,  console  CRT  and  two  teletype¬ 
writers  was  installed  in  August  of  1973. 

Dean  was  caught  in  a  financial  squeeze 
resulting  from  slightly  increasing  full-time 
enrollment  and  rapidly  increasing  costs 
from  inflation.  But  it  found  the  Nova’s 
Fortran  IV,  especially  with  the  IBM 
1130-type  Commercial  Subroutine  Pack¬ 
age,  could  handle  the  college’s  administra¬ 
tive  needs,  too.  By  purchasing  8K  words 
of  additional  core  memory  and  a  300 
line/min  printer,  it  completed  the 
$55,000  hardware  expenditure  for  the 

Late  last  year.  Dean  made  the  big  deci¬ 
sion  to  discontinue  the  NCR,  which  had 
not  been  adequately  meeting  the  college’s 

Improved  Equipment 
Ending  Past  Problems 

(Continued  from  Page  S/4 ) 
workers  "aren’t  doing  data  entry;  they  do 
the  work  they  would  normally  do,  and 
the  by-product  is  the  information  in  the 
computer,”  Chudnov  said. 

Melvin  Simon,  a  shopping  center  devel¬ 
opment  and  management  firm,  uses  its 
PDP-8E  for  accounting,  fmancial  state¬ 
ments,  a  receivable  file  and  historical 
files.  The  company  also  plans  to  do  oper¬ 
ations  research  on  the  machine,  Chudnov 
said. 

The  firm  decided  on  a  mini  “after  mak¬ 
ing  an  administrative  decision  to  have  our 
own  work  done  in-house,”  Chudnov  re¬ 
called.  The  firm  had  previously  bought 
time  on  a  System/3. 

“We  found  we  could  justify  our  own 
computer,  provided  it  was  under  the 
$1, 000/mo  range,”  he  said.  Equipment 
potential  and  capacity  for  growth  were 
important  in  the  choice. 

Bruce  Lake  had  also  used  time-sharing, 
but  got  to  a  point  where  costs  were 
prohibitive.  “We  found,  for  several 
months’  time-sharing  costs,  we  could  get 
a  minicomputer  that  could  handle  that 
workload  plus  several  other  tasks,” 
Hudgings  said. 

Charles  Hunt  at  the  Shawmut  was  an¬ 
other  time-sharing  user.  Costs  were  the 
key  reason  for  switching  this  time-sharing 
load  to  in-house  minicomputers,  he  said. 

A  minicomputer  replaced  unit  record 
equipment  at  Pactra  Industries.  The  old 
equipment  was  functioning  up  to  capac¬ 
ity,  and  any  more  applications  would 
have  required  a  second  shift,  Lenhert 

“We  had  to  pay  only  $50/mo  more  for 
the  mini  system  than  for  the  unit  record 
gear  at  the  time,  and  the  computer  open¬ 
ed  up  avenues  to  do  things  we  were  never 
able  to  do  in  the  past,”  he  said. 


dual  needs.  Thus  far,  accounts  payable, 
accounts  receivable  and  payroll  systems 
are  running  well  on  the  Nova. 

Hardware  downtime  has  been  minimal, 
with  the  exception  of  a  faulty  line  printer 
which  is  now  fixed.  Two  local  freelancers 
wrote  a  translator  program  to  convert 
360/20  RPG  source  programs  to  Fortran 
IV  source  programs. 

This  means  the  college  can  run  RPG 
programs  until  appropriate  disk-oriented 
systems  are  designed  and  constructed. 
Another  small  software  company  also 
helped  Dean  with  Fortran  coding.  Dean, 
at  99  Main  St.,  02038,  is  willing  to 
discuss  the  sale  of  its  software  to  inter¬ 
ested  users. 

Financial  Savings 

The  financial  savings  have  been  directly 
apparent.  “Rather  than  paying 
$2,1 00/mo,  which  included  service,  we 
are  paying  about  $500/mo  for  the  Data 


General  service  contract,”  a  college 
spokesman  said. 

In  addition,  the  Nova  runs  on  110  volt, 
20-amp  wall  current  instead  of  the  220 
volt,  60-amp  circuit  required  by  the  Cen¬ 
tury,  and  Dean  expects  to  see  a  drop  in 
its  sky-high  electricity  bill. 

“Although  we  were  using  the  Century 
inefficiently,  with  almost  all  in-house 
coding  in  RPG,  we  now  know  the  mini¬ 
computer  will  give  us  quicker,  more  com¬ 
plete  and  less  costly  data  than  the  old 
NCR  configuration. 

The  Basic  interpreter  is  more  than  suffi¬ 
cient  for  the  students’  needs,  he  added. 

The  college  runs  administrative  jobs  in 
the  morning  so  the  students  will  have 
access  in  the  afternoons  and  evenings. 

Problems,  Too 

But  the  spokesman  did  add  the  Nova 
has  contained  its  share  of  unexpected 
problems  as  well  as  unexpected  benefits. 


The  documentation  at  first  was  incom¬ 
plete  and  lacking  in  careful  examples  of 
the  general  statements.  “Fortran  oddities 
include,  for  example,  random  disk  files 
beginning  at  record  number  0. 

“Our  first  version  of  Basic  crashed  re¬ 
peatedly  with  three  users.  Not  until  six 
months  after  installation,  with  consider¬ 
able  help  from  company  application  engi¬ 
neers,  did  a  new  version  of  Basic  prove 
itself,”  the  spokesman  said. 

Once  understood,  the  Real-Time  Disk 
Operating  System  commands  are  easy  to 
give  and  produce  reliable  results,  he  add¬ 
ed  however. 

“The  Nova  is  definitely  not  a  turnkey 
system  for  the  novice  user,  at  least  until 
the  documentation  improves.  Still,  the 
hardware  and  software  will  deliver  a  lot 
of  data  for  the  dollars,  and,  finally,  we 
are  quite  pleased  with  the  results,”  the 
DP  department  spokesman  said. 


NEW! 


A  terminal  system 
that  fits  your  desk 
and  your  pocketbook 


TEC’s  compact,  low-cost  terminal/ printer/ diskette  system 
outperforms  those  selling  for  a  lot  more.  Here’s  why: 

The  Terminal 

•  MINI-TEC*  DATA-SCREEN*  terminal  displays  80  characters  per  line  in  a  12-  or  24-line 
format  (960  or  1,920  characters)  and  operates  in  both  interactive  and  block  modes 

•  Serial  asynchronous  interlaces  are  RS-232-C,  TTL  or  20/60  mA  current  loop 

•  Includes  cursor  positioning  by  CPU  and  cursor  address  readout  to  the  computer,  field  tab, 
message  blink,  protected  data,  plus  a  full  complement  of  keyboard  cursor  controls 

•  Terminal  Is  12V  wide  X  14”  deep  x  12V  high;  keyboard  is  11VW  x  7VD  x  2VH 

•  Low  as  $1 .495  each  in  lots  of  one;  substantial  discounts  for  larger  quantities 

The  Printer 

•  MINI-PRINT"  Data-Printer  has  speed  of  100  characters  per  second 

•  Prints  full  80  x  24  screen  ( 1 ,920  characters)  in  just  1 6  seconds 

•  Small  paper  size  (8V  X  5”)  enables  two  printed  pages  to  be  photocopied  at  the  same  time 
to  save  filing  space  and  copying  costs  . . .  230'  paper  roll  allows  printout  of  325  pages 

•  10V  wide  x  13V  deep  x  6”  high 

•  Only  $  1 ,350  each  in  lots  of  one,  plus  $  1 50  for  hard  copy  adapter;  lower  quantity  prices 

The  Diskette 

•  DISCO-TEC"  Memory  System  uses  standard  IBM  floppy  diskette  media  and  is  plug- 
compatible  with  all  serial  asynchronous  RS-232-C  equipment 

•  Addresses  100  limes  taster  than  cassettes  .  .  capable  of  3,850  different  addresses 

•  Includes  two  I/O  ports,  each  with  Independently  selectable  baud  rates  from  1 10  to  9600 

•  Storage  capacity  of  308,600  characters 

•  Automatic  record  stepping  for  cassette  emulation 

•  Full  8-blt  ASCII  decoding  ability 

•  12V  wide  x  15V  deep  x  12V  high 

•  Just  $3,295  each  in  lots  of  one;  substantial  savings  on  larger  quantities 
MINI-TEC*,  DATA-SCREEN*  MINI-PRINT",  and  DISCO-TEC",  TEC,  Incorporated 

TEC,  Incorporated  seoo  north  oracle  road  •  tucson.  Arizona  usa  bs704  •  (80212*7-1111 


PAGE  S/6 


HE3  Computer  world 


JUNE  25, 1975 
MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS 


Hi 


The 

Nova 


Now  there's  a  Standard  core  memory 
module  designed  specifically  for  Data 
General  Series  2/2  and  2/10.  Designa¬ 
ted  our  Pincomm  Model  #16KN16MM, 
it  is  a  form,  fit  and  function  replace¬ 
ment  for  the  core  supplied  by  the  man¬ 
ufacturer.  It  contains  16,384  16-bit 
words,  and  it  meets  or  exceeds  all 
original  CPU  parameters. 

SAVE  UP  TO  40%  on  off-the-shelf 
delivery.  Contact  Standard  now  for  an 
immediate  quotation. 


STANDARD [  /MEMORIES 


lines.  HP  expanded  the  memory  capacity 
of  the  HP  21  MX  to  512Kbytes,  Systems 
Engineering  Laboratories  (SEL)  intro¬ 
duced  the  SEL  32,  a  powerful  32-bit 
word  system  with  memory  up  to  16M 
bytes,  and  Varian  Data  Machines  ex¬ 
panded  its  V70  line  to  include  the  V75. 

Computer  Automation,  Inc.  even  be¬ 
came  less  obsessed  with  its  titillating 
Naked  and  Alpha  Mini  nomenclature  and 
introduced  the  really  gross  Megabyter. 

( Continued  on  Page  S/9) 


594  Marrett  Road,  Lexington,  MA  021 73 
(617)  861-0515 
Information  Services  tor  F 


If  you  can  answer  "yes"  to  this  question, 
we'll  send  you  a  free  metric/inch  converter. 


□  Yet,  my  company  does  purchase  minicomputer/mini¬ 
peripheral  hardware  and  add  value  to  produce  a  system 
for  resrle,  and  I'd  be  willing  to  spend  a  few  minutes  with 
your  questionnaire.  Please  send  it  along  with  my  metric/ 


raCOMPUTERWORLD 


ONDT  All  OF  flE  ABOVE 
CAN  OFFER  All  OF  THE  BH0W: 


General  Automation’s  new  family 
of  low-cost,  expandable  remote  batch 
terminals  offer  more  capabilities  than 
any  competitive  systems  produced  by 
any  terminal  or  minicomputer 
manufacturer  anywhere. 

Here’s  what  we  mean  by 
capabilities: 

Talk  to  any  computer. 

Our  software  emulator  packages 
make  our  terminals  multi-lingual. 
They  can  talk  to  IBM  360/370  HASP 
or  2780  work  stations.  They’ll  also 
emulate  a  Control  Data  User  Terminal. 
Or  a  UNIVAC 1004  system. 

Data  spooling  included. 

Our  disk-based  emulator  packages 
have  data  spooling.  Which  saves  you 
transmission  time.  Which  saves  you 
money. 

More  operating  systems. 

Most  RBTs  have  one  or  two 
operating  systems.  Ours  have  three. 


Including  Free  Standing  (FSOS),  Disk- 
Based  (DBOS)  and  Real  Time  (RTOS) 
operating  systems. 

Name  your  configuration. 

We  can  provide  any  hardware 
configuration,  including  any  kind  of 
periDheral  equipment  you  could  ask 
for.  Our  RBT  family  consists  of  three 
basic  communications  systems  (base 
prices  range  from  $19,500  to  $30,000): 

RBT-1  is  an  intelligent  batch 
communications  terminal  used  for 
entering,  transmitting  and  receiving 
data  between  a  remote  location  and  a 
central  computer. 

RBT-2  combines  communications 
terminal  capabilities  with  a  batch- 
oriented  satellite  data  processing 
system. 

RBT-3  is  a  complete  communica¬ 
tions  system  plus  multi-programming- 
oriented  stand-alone  data  processing 
system  offering  concurrent  batch  and 
real-time  operations. 


Communicate  with  an  expert. 

General  Automation  didn’t  get 
into  the  communications  business 
yesterday.  We  are  already  the  major 
supplier  of  minicomputer  systems  for 
front  end  processors,  distributed  data 
systems, Telex  message  switching 
systems  and  PABX  control  systems  for 
the  world’s  largest  international  com¬ 
munications  companies.  We’re  also  the 
number  one  solver  of  tough  commun¬ 
ications  problems  in  more  than  a  dozen 
different  industries. 

We  provide  virtually  everything 
you  need  to  build  or  expand  a  data 
communications  system.  We  can  show 
you  the  best  ways  to  get  the  most  out 
of  your  communications  dollar. 

Give  us  a  call  at  (714)  778-4800. 

Or  write  to  one  of  the  addresses  below. 


COMAMlMGITIOIISSYSnAIISBY 


HOME  OFFICE:  1055  South  East  Street,  P.O.  Box  4883,  Anaheim,  California  92803.  Telephone  (714)  7784800. 

EUROPE:  General  Automation,  SA,  24  rue  du  Sergent  Bauchat,  75012  Paris,  France.  Telephone  (1)  346/7973.  CANADA:  GA.  Computer  Ltd.,  Ontario. 


PAGE  S/8 


JUNE  25, 1975 
MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS 


Holds  Inventories,  Cor  Movement  Onto 


Transportation  Control  System  Updates  Iron  Horse’ 


g  operation. 

dopac’s  computer  network  is  < 


associated  track. 

At  the  yard  level,  the  installation  i 


ckheed  System  III 


The  only  multi-terminal 
small  business  computer  you  won't 
outgrow  every  time  you  grow. 


Introducing  the  Lockheed 
item  III,  now  with  newmulti- 
minal  capability.  That's  good 
ivs  whether  you  plan  to  use  a 
alU-omputer  system  or  plan  to 

System  1 1 1  is  designed  to  grow 
:h  you.  You  can  buy  what  you 
sd  nowi.expand  systems  when 
u  want.  With  the  new  multi- 
minal  System  III  models,  you 
n  connect  up  to  eight  auxiliary 
minals,  both  local  and  remote, 
at  means  nine  people  can  be 
ng  the  computer  simultaneously, 
th  this  capability,  System  III 
he  most  cost  effective  business 
mputer  you  can  buy. 

Interactive  capability  includes 
ta  inquiry/entry  and  on-line  file 
dating.  Each  terminal  features 
ilti-function  foreground  opera- 
n.  And  what  could  be  better  for 
'entory  control  and  order  entry 
alications,  while  your  batch 
>cessing  continues  in  the 
:kground. 

Plus  you've  got  a  system  supported 
by  industry  compatible  RPG  II 
software,  as  well  as  assembly 
language  and  FORTRAN.  System  III 
also  includes  File  Management, 


*'*'• -\a,  ~ 


Sort/Merge,  operator  utilities  and 
editors,  all  under  the  control  of  the 
Disk  Operating  System.  It  can  be 
expanded  to  64K  bytes,  four  disk 
drives  providing  20  million  bytes 
on-line,  up  to  600  LPM  printer,  and 
six  models  of  80  and  96  column 
card  devices. 

So  if  you're  interested  in  a  small 
business  computer  that  can  be  eight 
times  more  useful  to  you,  let's  talk. 

If  you  want  information  about  using 
the  Lockheed  System  III,  call  our 
nearest  office.  If  you'd  like  to 
become  a  System  III  dealer,  call 
collect,  (213)  722-6810.  Or  write 
6201  East  Randolph  Street, 

Los  Angeles,  CA  90040. 

Atlanta  266-0730*  Boston  861-1880*  Chicago 


Lockheed 

Electronics 

Data  Products  Division 


by  computers. 

When  that  happens,  Mopac  w 
to  use  the  St.  Louis  computer  t 


According  to  Sines,  ’The  ability  to 
computerize  yard  operations  is  a  vital 
part  of  this  bright  future  picture.” 

The  three  types  of  minicomputers  used 
by  Mopac  include  the  Digital  Equipment 
Corp.  PDP-11 /4S,  the  PDP-1 1/40  and  the 
PDP-11/10.  Each  has  its  own  qualities 
and  capabilities  and  is  used  accordingly  in 
the  Mopac  scheme. 

The  computers  contain  disk  units  which 
store  operating  programs,  communication 
control  software  and  data  files  to  operate 
and  control  freight  yards  under  Yats. 

A  small-  to  medium-size  terminal  with 
from  one  to  five  small  yards  and  an 
average  inventory  of  1 ,000  to  2,000  cars 
would  be  provided  with  a  PDP-1 1/40. 
The  DEC  PDP-1 1/40  has  4K,  16-bit 
words  of  memory  and  on-line  disk  storage 
capacity  of  7.5  million  characters  on 
three  disk  drives. 

A  larger  terminal  with  several  freight 
yards  and  an  average  2,000  to  8,000  car 
inventory  would  have  a  PDP-1 1/45  as  the 
principal  minicomputer  with  a  PDP-1 1/40 
for  backup  needs.  The  combination  gives 


Distributed  Approach 
Ups  Capabilities... 

ROHNERT  PARK,  Calif.  -  The  State 
of  California  plans  to  utilize  a  mini¬ 
computer  to  draft  new  legislation  and 


»"e  were  an  OEM  supplier  par  excellence.  We've  installed 
“  over  5,000  minicomputers.  Now  we're  offering  the  most 
advanced  operating  system  in  the  industry  for  the  business 
and  scientific  user .  .  .  "IRIS”. 
IRIS  supports  time-sharing  and  batch  jobstreaming 
__  concurrently.  IRIS  offers  output  spooling  of  the  batch 
jobstream  and  extensive  multi-terminal  support,  including 
terminal-to-terminal  communications. 
Users  are  completely  supported  by  a  full  Indexed  Random  File 
system  and  SORT  package. 

Languages  include  Business  BASIC  with  decimal  arithmeftti 
FORTRAN  '74'“  a  superset  of  ANSI  FORTRAN  IV  aitfS 
COBOL-like  report  writer. 

For  your  beginnin^^^^trifl^Fjc 


JUNE  25, 1975 

MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS 


MComputirworld 


Midi  Development  Challenging  Medium-Scale  Systems 

rawssrs 

Data* GenCTaT^EcBiMe r^Dec’«'pnP^1 a  «  economically  practical.  needed  to  do  a  job  fits  in  with  current  computer  to  handle  specific  applications 

a„d  Sfs8m  The  '  ,*  ""  ??””?  fr°m  the  management  a,titudes  toward  DP  bud-  in  dispersed  processing  networks  is  mere- 

EcUpse  and  the  PDF  1  l/70*l«re '  I iLhtt  on  ^e  world  of  minicom-  gets.  The  systems  are  highly  modular  and  ly  an  extension  of  that  principle.  The 

ccupse  ana  the  rpr-11/70  are  16-bit  puters,  a  world  commercial  processing  can  be  configured  with  little  excess  nnwer  miHiVmnnuim  „„„ 


i!  ./«u  1  ,  .  futera-  a  worId  commercial  processing  can  be  configured  with  little  exce 
dc?“put??  WhUe  ***"  8^32  Megammi  knows  only  through  data  entry  via  small  yet  can  be  easily  field  upgraded. 
32-bit  machine.  business  computers  or  terminals.  The  op-  fu.  . 


...To  Help  Council 
Draft  Legislation 

(Continued  from  Page  S/8) 
be  a  key  ingredient  in  the  system  to  be 
developed  by  Prodata  International  Corp. 


in  the 


beginning 


capability. 


PAGE  S/10 


JUNE  25, 1975 
MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS 


JUNE  25, 1975 

MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS 


PAGES/11 


Midis  Offering  Challenge  to  Medium-Scale  Systems 


(Continued  from  Page  S/9 / 
on  a  five-year  lease  plan.  DEC 
supplies  high-speed,  fixed-head 
swapping  disks,  disk  cartridges 
and  up  to  700  million  bytes  of 
on-line  mass  storage  for  the 
PDP-11/70.  Memory  for  the 
system  can  be  2  million  bytes 

Once  the  Interactive  Applica¬ 
tion  System  (IAS)  is  delivered, 
the  PDP-1 1/70  can  operate  inter¬ 
actively  with  multiple  users,  de¬ 
veloping  or  executing  Basic,  For¬ 
tran  Plus,  Cobol  or  Macro  as- 


be  performing  different  func- 

A  number  of  customers  imple¬ 
menting  networks  using  various 
PDP-1 1  models  are  looking  at 
using  the  PDP-1 1/70  in  a  dis¬ 
persed  processing  system. 

A  major  midwestem  railroad  is 
implementing  a  network  that 
ties  80  terminal  points  and  24 
railroad  yards  to  a  central  site. 
This  user  feels  the  current  net¬ 
work,  which  is  being  imple¬ 
mented  using  PDP-1 1/40,  11/45 
and  1 1/50  processors  to  manage 


The  user  dispersed  compute 


sites  and  to  prevent  disrup- 
of  railroad  operations  in  the 
t  of  power  failure  at  the 


Data  General’s  venture  into  the 
commercial  market  is  with  the 
Eclipse  C/300  operating  under 
Infos  file  management  system. 
The  C/300  is  targeted  for  multi- 
terminal,  on-line,  keyed  access 
to  data  bases  for  transaction 
processing  and  generating  peri¬ 
odic,  exception  and  demand  re¬ 
ports  from  that  active  data  base 
for  management  control. 

A  medium  system  that  includes 
the  C/300  processor  with  128K 
bytes  of  core  memory,  90  mega¬ 
bytes  of  disk  storage,  two  dis¬ 
plays,  magnetic  tape  drive,  line 


data  processing  needs:  DstdpOfflt  S  NCW, 

Expanded  Datashare  System 


■  Datapoint  5500  Central  Processor/ Mass  Storage  Disk  Units 

■  Datapoint 3600  Remote  Terminal /Hardcopy  Terminal  Printers 

■  Datashare  111 


The  new  Datashare  system,  from 
Datapoint,  builds  on  the  success  of  the 
initial  Datashare  based  on  the 
Datapoint  2200  processor.  The  concept 
remains  the  same  —  a  compact  central 
computer  with  associated  peripherals 
providing  the  people  who  need  it  most 
compute  power  at  remote  work  stations 
for  a  variety  of  business  data  entiy  and 
processing  needs — but  capacity  for 
work  throughput  and  diversity  of 
applications  have  expanded  greatly  with 
the  new  version.  For  businesses  whose 
workload  has  outgrown  both  available 
equipment  and  available  budget, 
Datashare  represents  a  real  break¬ 
through.  Nowhere  else  can  you  get  such 
a  total  business  data  processing 
capability  at  such  a  modest  cost.  Let’s 
take  a  closer  look  at  these  new  elements 
and  what  they  can  do  for  you. 

The  Datapoint  5500 -a  compact 
but  powerful  business  processor  that 
incorporates  the  very  latest  integrated 
circuit  technology.  Physically  the  same 
size  as  the  Datapoint  2200  and  1 100, 
the  5500  offers  64K  high-speed  internal 
memory  and  an  advanced  processor 
architecture  with  a  wide  variety  of 
printers,  tape  units  and  disk  systems 
(see  list  I.  It  can  supply  up  to  16 
work  stations  simultaneously  with 
compute  power.  In  one  typewriter-sized 
unit  the  5500  provides  the  basis  for  an 
independent  ‘‘computer  utility" 
operation  (even  while  it  serves  optionally 

The  new  Datashare -supporting  up  to  16 


as  a  highly  efficient  data  communi¬ 
cations  link  to  a  central  computer 
complex. )  Fully  compatible  with  software 
created  for  the  Datapoint  1 100  and 
2200  systems. 

The  Datapoint  3600  -  a  low-cost 
video  terminal  with  upper  case/lower 
case  capability,  a  unit  designed  for 
efficient  satellite  use  with  a  Datashare 
configuration.  (Datashare  also  works 
efficiently  with  other  Datapoint  units 
such  as  the  1 100  and  2200  and  all 
TTY -compatible  terminals.)  The 
optional  120  CPS  belt  printer  serves  as 
a  hard  copy  outlet  for  work  stations 
where  printer  information  is  desirable. 

Datashare  III  -  the  enhanced 
master  control  system  that  extends 
Datashare  capability  to  16  remote 
stations,  allows  users  at  these  stations 
access  to  the  expanded  number  of 
peripheral  units  that  may  be  associated 
with  the  5500.  Version  (II  offers 
greatly  improved  file  creation  and 
handling  capability,  including  advanced 
file  protection/security  and  virtual 
memory  techniques. 

Additional  Datashare  components 
have  been  added  but  the  Datashare 
philosophy  remains  the  same  —  to 
provide  the  business  user  a  low-cost, 
highly  productive  way  to  disperse  a 
powerful  data  entry  and  data  processing 
capability  among  departments  and  field 
offices.  Either  as  an  independent  system 
or  as  part  of  a  larger  computer/ 
communications  network,  the  new, 
expanded  Datashare  is  available  now 
to  help  your  organization.  For  further 
information  contact  the  Datapoint  sales 
office  nearest  you  or  write  or  call 
Datapoint  Corporation,  attention: 
Marketing  Department,  9725  Datapoint 
Drive,  San  Antonio,  Texas  78284 
(512)690-7151. 

DATAPOINT  CORPORATION 


The  leader  in  dispersed  data  processm3 


Datashare  Central  Processors 

and  Peripherals 

Processors 

Datapoint  2200  with  16K 
memory 

Datapoint  5500  with  up  to 
64K  memory 

Data  storage 

Cartridge  disk  (2.4  mil.  char, 
storage  on  replaceable  disks), 

4  max  2.4-9.6  mil.  char, 
storage  on  2200  or  5500 
Mass  storage  disk  20-40  mil. 
char,  storage  on  2200 
25-200  mil.  char,  storage 
on  5500 

System  Printers: 

300  LPM  Drum  Printer 
60-120  LPM  Matrix  Printer 
60-120  LPM  Belt  Printer 
30-60  CPS  High  quality  print 
servo  printer 

Communications  to  terminals 
Direct  wire,  1200  Baud 
Leased  line,  1200  Baud 
Dial  up,  300  Baud 
Card  Reader 
300  cpm 

Magnetic  tape  drives 

556,800  and  1600  bpi 
7  and  9  track 
Cassette  tapes 
Integral  to  2200  and  5500 
processors 
User  terminals 
Datastation  3600  terminal 
Datapoint  1100  intelligent 
terminal 

Any  TTY-compatible  terminal 
Terminal  printers 
120  cps  Belt  Printer 
Any  Datapoint/System  printer 
used  with  Datapoint  1100 
and  2200 


printer  and  an  eight-line  asyn¬ 
chronous  multiplexer  costs 
$1 13,950.  Major  markets  for  the 
C/300  are  departments  of  large 
corporations  and  organizations 
now  sharing  large,  general-pur¬ 
pose  computers. 

An  early  Eclipse  user  is  Lowes 
Co.,  a  building  materials  and 
supplies  firm  with  129  stores  in 
the  midatlantic  and  southeastern 
U.S.  Lowes  is  implementing  a 
dispersed  processing  system 
using  eight  Eclipse  C/300s, 
which  will  replace  the  currently 
used  IBM  370/135  in  the  fall  of 
1976. 

According  to  John  Accree,  DP 
manager,  the  system  follows  his 
basic  philosophy  of  DP.  He  be¬ 


rated  using  different  implemen- 
itions.  The  estimated  cost  for  a 
ystem  using  multiple  Eclipse 
omputers  was  one-third  that  of 
system  using  a  large  IBM  Sys- 
:m/370  with  as  much  indepen- 
ent  equipment  as  possible,  and 
ne-fifth  that  of  an  all-IBM 


Accree  believes  programming 
was  actually  simplified  because 
Data  General  supplies  no  appli¬ 
cations  software,  only  systems 


Interdata,  like  other  midicom- 
puter  manufacturers,  concerns 
itself  more  with  making  tools  for 
others  to  use  in  solving  problems 
than  with  solving  the  problems 
directly.  Initial  markets  for  the 
8/32  Megamini  have  been  in 
aerospace  simulations,  but  Inter- 


The  Megamini  supports  up  to 
one  million  bytes  of  memory, 
tape  cassettes,  magnetic  tape, 
disk  cartridges  and  40-megabyte 
disk  systems.  An  8/32  configura¬ 
tion  that  costs  only  $56,300  can 
function  very  well  in  a  computer 
network  for  dispersed  computer. 

One  company  is  developing  a 
pilot  flight  trainer  using  three 
8/32  Megaminis;  two  operate  in 


iO  Computer  world 


MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS 


Construction  Firm’s  Small  System  Handles  Many  Tasks 

TORONTO  -  A  small  computer  may  mounds  of  cards  for  a  piece  of  informa-  switch  over  to  the  system.  takes  about  1-/2  days  to  complete, 

not  wear  a  hard  hat,  but  it  certainly  is  tion,  we  instantaneously  call  up  the  data  The  Dineen  Group,  which  does  around  Also  produced  on  the  system  is  a  week- 

$35  million  a 
construction,  i 


JUNE  25, 1975 

MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS 


US}  Computer  world 


With  Some  Reservations 


Vendors  Express  Respect,  Faint  Praise  for  System/32 


By  Patrick  Ward 

“Small  business  systems  are  coming  into 
vogue  in  1975  because  they’ve  come 
down  to  a  price  the  small  business  user 
can  afford,”  according  to  David  Clinton, 
director  of  marketing  for  Boone  Custom 
Systems,  a  systems  house  in  Minneapolis. 

In  that  case,  where  does  IBM’s  entry, 
the  System/32,  fit  into  this  scheme  of 
things?  Other  vendors  in  the  mini¬ 
computer  field  have  both  respect  and 
faint  praise  for  the  IBM  system,  a  Com- 
puterworld  survey  found. 

The  System/32  “is  a  high-powered 
microcomputer  system  with  peripherals 
and  dedicated  applications  packages.  The 
proliferation  of  that  (concept)  will  be 
tremendous,”  said  Pat  Kane,  president  of 
Applied  Data  Communications,  Santa 


Ana,  Calif. 

However,  Frank  McPherson,  vice-presi¬ 
dent  of  marketing  at  Decision  Data, 
Horsham,  Pa.,  does  not  see  the  System/32 
as  the  answer  to  users'  hopes. 

In  1969,  IBM  came  out  with  the  Sys¬ 
tem/3  at  $990/mo  with  software,  he  said. 
Five-and-a-half  years  later,  the  S/32  made 
its  debut  at  $ 849/mo  -  not  much  less.  It 
is  not  low-priced  enough  to  compete  with 
other  offerings  in  the  field,  McPherson 

Ideally,  users  in  small  reporting  units, 
the  small  federal  or  state  branch  office 
and  other  sites  will  want  a  small  business 
system  that  is  “simplicity  all  the  way 
through  -  in  programming,  operations" 
and  ease  of  understanding  generally,  he 
said. 

“When  the  system  has  problems,  the 


The  turnkey  software  or  off-the-shelf 
application  package  should  “be  in  an  easy 
language  the  world  knows”  and  be  easily 
modifiable. 

The  world  is  not  static:  if  the  user  firm 
decides  to  open  a  branch  in  Massachu¬ 
setts,  it  would  be  able  to  easily  plug  in 
the  software  to  handle  that  state’s  income 
tax,  he  said. 

The  users  who  run  the  system  “want  to 
be  able  to  do  this  themselves,”  he  re- 


•Very  \ 


While  McPherson  has  reservations  about 
the  S/32,  Daniel  Clinton  described  it  as 
“very  well  done,  very  well  thought  out 


Ampex  Disk  Drives  from  40  to 200  megabytes 
give  you  easy  growth  with  common  interface 


For  the  first  time,  you  don't  have  to  stay 
small  just  because  you  started  small. 
Ampex  has  a  new  family  of  OEM  disk 
drives  available  in  every  popular  storage 
capacity. 

When  we  say  family,  we  mean  just 
that  We’ve  designed  our  interface  so  that 
all  it  takes  to  upgrade  your  system  is  a 
quick  and  easy  change.  Disconnect  the 
unit  you've  outgrown  and  move  in  the 
new  module;  as  soon  as  you  plug  into 
our  interface,  you're  back  on  line. 

Ampex  disk  drives  in  this  new  family 
include  the  following  standard  products: 


DM-940 

A  single-density,  compact  module  with 
a  capacity  of  40  megabytes.  This  low- 
cost  drive  uses  standard,  5-high  remov¬ 
able  packs,  and  can  be  used  as  a  stand¬ 
alone  console  or  mounted  in  a  19"  rack. 
Average  access  time  Is  30  milliseconds, 
data  organization  is  411  cylinders  per 
disk  pack,  each  track  holds  20,165 
bytes,  and  there  are  2055  date  tracks 
per  disk.  Start  time  is  22  seconds;  stop 
time  is  90  seconds  (15  seconds  with 
optional  dynamic  braking).  Data  transfer 
rate  at  3600  rpm  is  1209  megabytes 
per  second.  Optional  2400  rpm  is 


with  twice  the  capacity  That  means  00 
megabytes  of  modular  storage  organ¬ 
ized  into  815  cylinders,  4075  data 
tracks.  Cylinder  capacity  is  100,800 
bytes/50,400  words. 

Available  options  for  both  the  DM-940 
and  DM-980  include  DC  power  supply, 
NRZ  to  MFM  Data  Encoding,  VFO/Data 
Separator,  Sector  Counter  Daisy 
Chain  interface,  Cable  Retract  Pack¬ 
age,  Drawer  Slide  Assembly,  Dual  Port 
Accessory  Module,  and  any  number  of 

DM-9100 

The  next  step  tp  in  this  flexible  family 
offers  100  megabytes  of  capacity  in  a 
stand-alone,  twenty-surface  disk  pack 
(IBM  3336  or  equivalent).  A  linear  DC 
motor  (voice  coll)  is  combined  with 
highly  reliable  on-track  servoing  tech¬ 
niques.  Data  organization  is  404  cylin¬ 
ders  plus  7  alternates,  19  data  tracks 
and  one  servo  positioning  track  per 
cylinder  There  are  7676  tracks  per 
pack,  each  with  a  capacity  of  13,030 
bytes.  Cylinder  capacty  is  247,570  bytes. 
Data  transfer  rate  is  806,000  bytes 
(or  6.45  megabits)  per  second. 


A  double-density  version  of  the  DM-9100 
with  double  the  capacity,  this  drive  gives 
you  200  megabytes  of  storage.  Use  an 
IBM  3336  Model  1 1  (or  equivalent)  disk 
pack  for  a  full  808  cylinders  plus  7  al¬ 
ternates.  Each  track  has  a  capacity  of 
13,030  bytes,  and  there  are  15352 
tracks  per  pack. 

Options  available  for  both  the 
DM-9100  and  DM-9200  include  special 
interfaces.  Dual  Port  Accessory  Module, 
Daisy  Chain  Interface,  VFO/Data  Sep¬ 
arator,  NRZ  to  MFM  Data  Encoding, 
Sector  Counter,  and  Diagnostic  Logic 
with  LED  indicators. 

For  all  models  in  this  family,  pack 
sector  count  can  be  any  standard  incre¬ 
ment  from  4  to  128.  Once  you  select 
the  count  for  one  model,  the  specifica¬ 
tion  holds  for  all  other  members  of  the 


Field  Upgrading 

Once  you  have  a  DM-940  installed  in 
your  system,  you  can  convert  it  to 
double-density  capacity  and  operate  it  as 
a  DM-980  with  a  simple  field  upgrade. 
Similarly,  the  DM-9100  can  be  field- 
upgraded  to  a  double-density  DM-9200. 

No  matter  which  of  these  four  new 
Ampex  disk  drives  you  have  in  your  sys¬ 
tem,  you  can  employ  a  single,  family- 
compatible  interface.  Plug  the  Ampex 
disk  model  of  your  choice  in  or  out  of 
your  system  without  worrying  about 
new  control  electronics. 

Detailed  technical  information  Is  avail¬ 
able  for  all  four  of  these  family-related 
disk  storage  products,  and  will  be  sent 
without  charge  or  obligation  in  response 
to  your  inquiry. 


AMPEX 


and  the  price  is  right.” 

“The  amount  of  software  available  on 
the  machine  is  tough  for  the  competi¬ 
tion,”  he  added. 

“Because  IBM  is  IBM,  1  think  there  will 
be  a  lot  of  customers  who  will  take  the 
System/32  as  it  is  and  work  around  it.” 
he  remarked. 

Applications  Apropos 

“1  don’t  necessarily  feel  System/32  is  all 
things  to  all  people  yet,”  said  Donald  L. 
Schnitter,  director  of  marketing  services 
for  Basic/Four  Corp.  of  Santa  Ana,  Calif. 

Nevertheless,  “the  applications  they’re 
selling  ...  are  certainly  apropos,”  he  re¬ 
marked. 

The  System/32  suits  “the  novice  user 
who  wants  to  buy  IBM”  in  the  view  of 
Saul  Newman,  president  of  Applied  Digi¬ 
tal  Technology,  Inc.,  a  Chicago  mini¬ 
computer  systems  house. 

Even  IBM  can’t  afford  to  be  all  things  to- 
all  men  in  the  software  it  supplies  for  the 
S/32,  Newman  said. 

Economics  will  dictate  that,  when  a 
systems  house  writes  a  very  important 
piece  of  software  for  one  important  cus¬ 
tomer,  that  (industry)  will  become  its 
specialty  and  eventually  nobody  will  be 
able  to  compete  with  its  expertise  in  that 

This  need  for  specialization  will  cause 
systems  houses  to  carve  out  a  little  niche 
through  a  record  of  solid  performance  in 
an  industry,  he  said.  This  will  lead  in¬ 
dividual  systems  firms  to  become  “king 
of  the  meatpackers  in  DP  business  or  the 
IBM  of  the  film  libraries  or  the  insurance 
agencies,”  he  predicted. 


ALABAMA  HuntauBt  (205)  837-3702;  CALIFORNIA  Glendale  (213)  240-3000.  Stnyvak  (408)  733-2900;  FLORIDA  Coco*  Be 
Grow  (312)  303-8000:  MARYLAND.  Betheeda  (301 )  330-8800  MASSAQKJSETTS.Wdtham  (617)  60(WO4O;  f«W  JERSEY.  Hr-- 
Albuquerque  (303)  26M749.  0180,  D*ton  (313)  234-6101;  FENNSYLW8A  AWrflloo  (2 


3)  887-7630;  TEXAS.  Deia*  (214)  07-3100,  He 


84 — 

‘Hey,  You  Stepped  on  My  Minicom- 


NAVIGATORS 
OF  CHANGE 

Ic.*i.«Htionally  experienced  , 

wisps  srs sgfvaii  | 

^orHu^ES  , 

tod  to  minicomputer*,  data 

tmunlcetlont  equipment  end 
llleteS  Bfaoassln* 
te  toi  their  capability 

7*7 WalhfnjtoV  St. 


Announcing  the  start  of  a  new  era 
in  business  computing. 

The  DATASYSTEM  310  from  Digital. 
Adisk-based 

computer  system  for  $12,000. 


Datasystem  310.  One  of  the  most 
remarkable  business  tools  Digital 
or  anyone  else  has  ever  designed. 

Now  you  can  own  a  disk- 
based  computer  system  at  a  price 
that  seems  all  but  impossible. 
$12,000  purchased.  Under  $300. 
a  month  leased. 

So  warehouses,  insurance 
companies,  large  EDP  users, 
banks,  and  companies  with  many 
branch  offices  may  find  the  310 
the  most  important  new  system 
in  years. 

It  includes  a  PDP-8A  CPU 
with  16K  characters  of  core  mem¬ 
ory,  a  VT50  CRT  (960  character 
display)  with  full  keyboard  and 
numeric  keypad,  operating  soft¬ 
ware,  and  a  dual  floppy-disk 
drive  to  store  670,000  characters. 

You  can  expand  up  to  64  K 
characters  of  memory  and  up  to 
1.34  million  characters  of  disk 
storage.  You  can  add  printers  with 
speeas  of  30  cps,  165  cps,  or  300 
lpm;  and  a  2780-compatible  inter¬ 
face  for  communications. 

COS  310  software  provides 
tools  to  develop  and  run  an  effi¬ 
cient  system.  DIBOL  language 
serves  for  higher-level  business 


programming,  and  a  full  comple¬ 
ment  of  utility  routines  can  han¬ 
dle  file  management  and  report 
generation. 

To  some  users  it  will  be  the 
ideal  RJE  station.  To  others  it  will 
be  a  brilliant  terminal  at  a  cost 
lower  than  a  smart  one.  For  still 
others  it  will  be  the  stand-alone 
computer  system  that  goes  any¬ 
where.  And  whatever  applica¬ 
tions  programs  you  develop  for 
the  310,  you  develop  only  once. 
Since  these  programs  will  run  on 
your  other  310' s  or  larger  300 
series  systems  without  repro¬ 
gramming. 

For  all  of  these  reasons  it  was 
designed  to  be  bought  by  the 
dozens.  Which  is  made  easier  by 
our  volume  discounts.  It's  a  com¬ 
puter  that  costs  less  than  most 
terminals,  less  than  most  calcula¬ 
tors,  less  than  most  clerks.  And 
it's  complete.  And  completely 
backed  up  by  Digital  -  manufac¬ 
turer  of  the  most,  as  well  as  the 
most  reliable,  minicomputers  in 
the  world. 

For  full  information  send 
this  coupon  or  call  Business 
Products  Group,  Digital  Equip¬ 


ment  Corporation,  Maynard, 
MA  01754.  (617)  897-8434.  Euro¬ 
pean  headquarters:  81  route 
de  l'Aire,  1211  Geneva  26.  Tel: 

42  79  50.  Digital  Equipment  of 
Canada  Ltd.,  P.O.  Box  11500, 
Ottawa,  Ontario  K2H  8K8. 
(613)592-5111. 


I  Business  Products  Group 
I  Digital  Equipment 
I  146  Main  Street 
I  Maynard,  MA  01754 
I  I'm  ready  to  start  my  new  era  in 
I  business  computing. 

•  □  Please  send  me  more  information 
1  on  the  Datasystem  310. 

[  □  Please  send  a  sales  person 
immediately. 

I  Name - 

I  Title _ _ _ 

Company - 

I  Address - 

|  City - State - 

l  Zip _ Telephone - 


PAGE  S/16 


[153  COMPUTERWOfllD 


JUNE  25, 1975 
MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS 


Small  Business  Becoming  Prime  Target  of  DP  Industry 


By  B.V.  O'Brien 

With  a  few  exceptions,  small  business 
has  been  bypassed  by  most  of  the  com¬ 
puter  industry.  Until  about  1970,  only 
the  batch  service  bureaus  and  the  manu¬ 
facturers  of  forms  and  accounting  ma¬ 
chines  paid  much  attention  to  the  small 
businessman. 

Now,  thanks  to  major  changes  in  tech¬ 
nology,  industry  structure  and,  most  im¬ 
portantly,  marketing,  this  situation  is 
changed. 

The  two  factors  that  have  limited  the 
use  of  computers  in  small  businesses  in 

the  past  have  been  technology  and  mar¬ 

keting.  The  development  of  computer 
technology  prior  to  1970  was  directed 
almost  exclusively  at  the  large  companies 
(and  government  agencies)  and  their  ap¬ 
plications.  Most  hardware  advances  such 
as  mass  storage  devices  as  well  as  software 
advances  such  as  operating  systems  have 


been  applied  to  the  medium-to-large  ap¬ 
plication. 

Even  minicomputer  developments  have 
been  oriented  to  the  special  applications 
(laboratory,  communications,  process 
control)  of  the  large  organizations.  Devel¬ 
opment  effort  was  directed  toward  im¬ 
provement  in  cost/performance  rather 
than  just  cost  reduction. 

The  basic  thrust  of  the  industry  was 
"scale  factor”  -  obtain  further  econo¬ 
mies  by  ever-larger  scale  of  operation. 
The  solution  to  all  problems  was  a  bigger 

computer. 

But,  in  the  early  '70s,  the  large  users 
themselves  started  to  rebel.  The  cost  and 
complexity  of  their  computer  systems 
were  becoming  too  great  to  manage.  Users 
started  to  buy  more  carefully  and  manage 
more  closely. 

As  a  result,  the  computer  industry 
found  itself  dealing  with  a  relatively  static 
number  of  large  companies  whose  inter¬ 


nal  growth,  now  being  carefully  managed, 
was  much  smaller  than  in  the  "swinging 
sixties."  The  industry  needed  new  cus¬ 
tomers  -  and  the  small  businessman  was 
the  obvious  choice. 

The  initial  efforts  to  penetrate  the  small 
business  market  were  largely  technologi¬ 
cal  adaptations  of  the  things  that  had 
worked  for  large  companies.  Application 

programs  for  automobile  dealers  and 

medical  labs  were  attached  to  standard 

timesharing  packages.  Dozens  of  “sys¬ 

tem”  houses  were  founded  to  apply  mini¬ 
computers  to  the  problems  of  small  busi¬ 
ness.  The  pioneers  were  on  the  move 
again.  It  wasn’t  very  good,  but  it  was  all 

there  was,  and  much  of  it  succeeded. 

And  what  success  these  initial  efforts 
had  was  frequently  achieved  without  the 
benefit  of  a  solid,  coordinated  marketing 
effort.  It  was  the  success  of  hardware  and 
services  sales  to  those  customers  who 
could  (or  thought  they  could)  support 


Whatis  a  Ball  Computer? 

Answers  to  some  tough  questions  on  minicomputers— 

from  systems  to  controllers  to  peripherals— published 
by  Ball  Computer  Products,  Inc.,  for 

pressured  OEMs,  hassled  systems  houses 
and  puzzled  end-users. 


Forgive  us  our  name,  as  we  forgive 
competitors  who  hurl  names 
against  us.  For  we  really  don't 
make  computers  at  all. 
Minicomputer  systems,  yes.  Peri¬ 
pherals,  for  sure.  Controllers, 
indeed;  in  just  5  years,  weVe  be¬ 
come  the 
industry's 
largest  in¬ 
dependent! 
supplier  of  I 
controllers  I 
for  Nova 
systems. 

Mainly  because  we  provide  OEMs 
with  strong  technical  support  and 
service— things  a  lot  of  people 
figure  you  don't  need. 

We  solve  problems.  Whether  they’re 
hardware  problems  or  software 
problems.  Whether  they’re  simple 
or  complex.  Day  or  night.  Whether 
they’re  caused  by  our  equipment 
or  yours. 

We  don’t  make  computers.  We  just 
make  them  work.  Better. 

Hark!  New  BCP  disk  controllers 
for  Interdata  systems. 

A  BCP  has  just  an- 
^nounced  a  new  line 
Xof  disk  controllers 
\  for  Interdata 
\  Model  70, 74  and 
7/16  mainframes. 
_/The  new  controllers 
•  have  their  own  se- 
J  lector  channel,  and 
feature  ebuilt-in 
micro-programmable  processor 
(designed  and  built  by  BCR  natu¬ 
rally)  which  permits  us  to  program 
your  controller  to  get  more  out  of 
your  hardware  and  software  (an¬ 
swering  the  digital  question,  "which 
costs  less— smart  programmers  or 
smart  controllers?”). 

These  are  probably  the  most 
sophisticated  controllers  ever  de¬ 
signed— they  support  overlapped 
seeking,  read-before-write,  indi¬ 
vidual  sector  write  protect  and 
automatic  data  verification. 

And  yes,  Va.,  they  still  fit  in  a  single 
I/O  slot  inside  the  mainframe. 


Getting  serious  about  floppy  disks. 
The  current  craze  for  floppies  is 
raising  a  lot  of  difficult  questions. 
Like  where's  the  cross-over  point 
between  hard  and  flexible  disk 
systems?  And  are  floppies  better 
suited  for  recording  computer  data 
or  destroying  computer  data? 
Would  we  raise  the  questions  if 
we  didn't  have  the  answers? 
Enter  the  BCP  3190  floppy  disk 
and  controller.  It  supports  BCP’s 
disk  operating  system  or  IBM- 
compatible  formats.  And  it's 
loaded  with  a  lot  of  things  you 
don't  need  to  know 
about.  What 


PE  mag  tape  reliability,  where 
are  you? 

Here.  Now. 

With  the  BCP 
3180  phase 
encoded 

mag  tape  WyTO 
controller  .  f  ,  *  w|V' 

for  Nova  ■'W ; v*  “  *  ^Sf  1 

systems  Ha  ,  *■  ,  MBjf' 

Totally 

IBM  com-  TC;gHHHft  II 

patible,  ^2.^30  K 

3180  can 
interface 

to  4  unformatted  phase  encoded 
Wangco,  Pertec  or  other  PE  drives. 
And  like  all  BCP  controllers  for  PE 
or  NRZI  drives,  it  s  completely 
self-contained  on  a  single  15-inch 
pc  board,  requiring  no  formatters 
or  adapters.  . 


you  do  need  to  know  about  is  that 
all  those  things  give  it  performance 
and  reliability  previously  available 
only  on  cartridge  disk  drives  like 
the  BCP  4300/4400. 

Check  it  out . . .  you'll  flip. 

Report  from  Hackensack: 

No  failures.  No  downtime.  No 
crashes.  No  sweat. 

That's  the  word  from  the  Hacken¬ 
sack  Police  Department  after  more 
than  6  months^ 
on  the  air 
with  a  Nova-  A 
based.  fully^T 
integrated,  ^ 
custom- 
designed 
BCP  disk 
system. 

DMA  Data  ' 

Industries,  the  Paramus,  N.J.  OEM, 
reports  that  the  system  is  being 
used  to  list  outstanding  warrants, 
retrieve  arrest  records,  generate 
crime  reports  by  type  and  location, 
and  to  retrieve  microfiled  mug 
shots  and  fingerprints. 

Drop  by  for  a  speedy  trial ...  if 
you're  clean. 


m 


P  Disk  controller,  and  drives. 

□  Tape  controllers  and  drives. 

O  Floppy  controllers  and  drives. 


I  Ball  Computer 
Products,  Inc. 


Los  Angelas  ■  8an  Francisco  Boston 


themselves  or  to  those  customers  who 
were  lucky  enough  to  be  dealing  with  the 
thoughtful  entrepreneurs  who  could  re¬ 
late  the  product  to  the  customers’  real 

New  Generation  of  Products 
Within  the  last  couple  of  years,  a  new 

generation  of  products  for  the  small  busi¬ 

nessman  has  started  to  appear.  The  most 
notable  is  the  IBM  System/32,  but  there 

are  also  intelligent  terminals  with  practi¬ 

cal  levels  of  software  and  maintenance 
support,  peripheral  devices  for  minicom¬ 
puters  and,  most  significantly,  industry- 
oriented  information  service  offerings. 

These  developments  are  not  simply  new 
products.  They  are  increasingly  complete 
end-user  packages,  offered  by  organiza¬ 
tions  with  an  understanding  of  the  cus¬ 
tomer  needs,  the  resources  to  support  the 
product  and  commitment  to  the  small 
business  market. 

The  major  characteristic  of  these  devel¬ 
opments  is  they  are  oriented  around  the 
needs  of  the  small  business,  which  are 
unique  and  different  from  those  of  big 
business. 

Emerging  Patterns 

Enough  of  these'  developments  have 
been  introduced  recently  that  some  clear 
patterns  for  the  future  are  beginning  to 

For8 the  small  businessman,  the  vendor 
will  become  more  of  a  composite  vendor 
or  an  assembler  of  talent. 

Behind  this  end-user  supplier  there  is 
developing  an  array  of  “wholesalers”  of 
computer  processing,  special  products, 
software  and  all  of  the  other  components 
required  for  the  small  business  applica¬ 
tion. 

Problems  Remain 

Many  problems  unique  to  the  small 
businessman’s  DP  applications  remain  to 
be  solved.  The  major  ones  are  data  entry, 
data  transmission  and  data  base  inquiry. 

Data  entry  for  the  small  businessman  is 
an  even  greater  problem  than  in  a  large 
company.  The  data  entry  in  a  large  com¬ 
pany  is  a  big  enough  task  that  it  can  be 
capital-intensified  with  on-line  equipment 
such  as  the  IBM  3270  or  with  various 
types  of  keypunch  or  key-to-disk  equip¬ 
ment.  It  can  also  be  somewhat  central¬ 
ized,  organized,  staffed  with  trained,  full¬ 
time  personnel  and,  in  particular,  super¬ 
vised. 

In  the  small  business  location,  a  differ¬ 
ent  environment  prevails.  The  ability  to 
put  in  special  data  entry  equipment  is 
severely  limited  by  the  amount  of  money 
the  small  businessman  can  spend. 

At  the  same  time,  the  data  entry  opera¬ 
tor  or  operators  are  nearly  always  part- 
time  individuals  with  little  or  no  access  to 
a  supervisor  familiar  with  the  data  entry 

Various  solutions  have  been  used  with 
varying  degrees  of  success.  Operator 
prompting  tapes  (paper  and  magnetic) 
have  been  used  extensively  but  these  can¬ 
not  perform  any  error  control. 

Intelligent  terminals  have  been  used,  but 
these  become  prohibitively  expensive  for 
all  but  the  largest  of  these  small  business 
firms.  Optical  character  recognition  and 
similar  techniques  are  still  far  out  of  the 
price  range. 

Data  Transmission 

Data  transmission  is  another  area  where 
the  fruits  of  technology  have  largely 
bypassed  the  small  businessman.  The 
combination  of  his  typically  low  data 
volumes  (10,000-  to  100,000  char./day) 
and  his  remoteness  from  the  computer 
center  puts  him  in  a  position  where  dial¬ 
up  is  the  only  practical  alternative. 

This  and  his  economic  situation  largely 
precludes  the  use  of  the  newer  technolo¬ 
gies  of  high-speed  transmission,  efficient 
line  protocols  like  Synchronous  Data 
Link  Control  (SDLC)  and  other  tech- 
/ Continued  on  Page  S/18) 


Now,  a  Hewlett-Packard  21MX 
for  OEM’s  who  think  big. 


The 

M/30 
processor. 


HEWLETT-PACKARD’S  21  MX  FAMILY 


Now  Hewlett-Packard  brings  4K  RAM  semiconductor 
technology  to  OEM’s  with  large  memory  needs.  Com¬ 
patible  with  all  previous  21MX  minicomputers,  the  new 
M/30  offers  the  same  modularity,  the  same  flexible 
user  microprogrammability. 

Not  only  does  4K  RAM  technology  bring  you  more 
reliability,  you  also  benefit  from  our  recent  February 
30%  price  reduction  on  memories.  (Send  for  your  free 
copy  of  our  recent  “Engineering  Evaluation  Report.” 

It  proves  the  4K  RAM  based  21MX  minicomputer 
series  is  50%  more  reliable  than  our  previous  “core” 
based  machines.) 

And  take  a  hard  look  at  what  HP  offers  you  in  I/O. 

We  give  you  more:  14  I/O  slots  in  the  M/30.  But  equally 
important  they’re  all  fully  powered  with  vectored 
interrupts. 

Plus  Dynamic  Mapping  with  addressability  to 
1  megawords. 


21MX 

PROCESSOR 

TYPICAL  21MX  SYSTEM 

I/O  EXPANSION 
FULLY  POWERED 

I/O  CHANNELS 

RACK 

HEIGHT 

4K  RAM 
MEMORY 

PRICE 
(QTY.  50) 

WITHIN 

MAINFRAME 

WITH  TWO 
EXTENDERS 

M/30 

64K 

WORDS 

$13,629* 

14 

46 

12y4" 

t 

Only 

$594* 

more 

Double 

the 

memory 

1 

50% 

more 

I/O  slots 

I 

Only 

3 

more 

rack 

space 

1 

M/20 

32K  <c  7  7gQ* 

WORDS  *  x’/t5B 

9  41 

8%" 

M/10 

16K 

WORDS 

$  5,049* 

4  36 

5V4" 

*Domestic  USA  OEM  prices  quantity  50. 


HP  Minicomputers. 
They  work  for  a  living. 


22529 


PAGE  S/18 


H53  COMPUTERWORLD 


JUNE  25, 1975 
MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS 


Medical  Center  System  Reduces 
Costs,  Eliminates  Input  Error 


LOS  ANGELES  -  City  of  Hope  Na¬ 
tional  Medical  Center,  a  medical  research 
and  treatment  facility  uses  a  mini-based 
system  for  total  business  DP  requirements 
in  its  national  headquarters. 

Benefits  include  sharply  reduced  admin¬ 
istrative  costs  and  elimination  of  data 
input  errors,  according  to  administrative 
officials. 

In  the  City  of  Hope  Datashare  system,  a 
Datapoint  2200  central  processor  pro¬ 
vides  compute  power  to  four  on-site  CRT 
display  terminals  for  both  data  entry  and 
DP  applications. 

Operators  at  these  low-cost,  “nonintelli- 
gent”  terminals  have  access,  to  the  proc¬ 
essing  power  of  the  16K  2200  and  the 
storage  capacity  of  the  four  cartridge  disk 
units,  each  of  which  can  hold  2.4M  char¬ 
acters  on  replaceable  cartridges. 


What’s  new  in  printers!  Ask  Centronics. 

Just  because  you  need 
a  fester  printer  doesn’t 
mean  you  have  to  leave 
the  family. 

Our  speeds  are  way  up.  But  our  prices  aren't. 

And  when  you  select  products  from  the  Centronics 
family,  you  get  the  extra  advantages  of  proven 
reliability,  printer  compatibility,  and 
commonality  of  parts. 


Our  new  Model  104  printer  delivers  200  lines 
per  minute.  Which  is  more  full  132-column  lines 
per  minute  for  the  money  than  any  other  printer 
in  our  family. 

The  low  price  includes  a  quiet,  fully-enclosed 
design.  Clean,  consistent  high  quality  printing. 

A  choice  of  over  20  foreign  language  character  sets. 
Special  character  sets.  Boldface  characters  on  com¬ 
mand.  Automatic  on-off  motor  control.  Exclusive 
off-line  self-test  switch.  LSI  electronics.  Optional 
upper/lower  case  printing.  And  much,  much  more. 
All  this  -  plus  the  best  warranty  in  the  business. 
For  reliability  proven  in  tens  of  thousands  of  instal¬ 
lations,  and  for  optimum  price/performance,  look 
to  Centronics.  You'll  find  the  biggest  selection  of 
printers  anywhere.  With  a  broad  range  of  computer 

features  and  options  available  nowhere  else.  I 


High-vi 


le  production  assures  prompt  deliver^: 


Service  and  parts  always  available  through  a  net¬ 
work  of  field  service  offices.  Call  our  nearest  office 
for  full  information.  Centronics  Data  Computer 
Corp.,  Hudson,  New  Hampshire  03051. 


_ _ ».,  (617)  272-8545 

Central  Region:  Kettering,  Ohio,  (513)  294-0070 
Western  Region:  Santa  Ana,  Calif.,  (714)  979-6650 
Centronics  Data  Computer  (Canada)  Ltd.: 
Mississauga,  Ont.  (416)  625-0770 
Centronics  of  Puerto  Rico,  Inc.:  Dorado,  P.R., 
(809)796-1881 

Centronics  International  Corp.:  Brussels,  Belgium 
02-762-3572 


CEIlTROniCS 


Plans  are  to  upgrade  the  the  recently 
introduced  Datapoint  5500  CPU  which 
can  provide  up  to  16  work  terminals  with 
compute  power. 

The  system,  in  use  since  the  first  of  the 
year,  brings  computer  power  to  bear  on 
many  activities  in  data  handling  that  pre¬ 
viously  involved  three  or  four  separate 
work  processes. 

Costs  Cut  Sharply 

The  system  has  enabled  hospital  man¬ 
agement  to  tie  closely  together  data  entry 
and  DP  activities,  cutting  clerical  costs 
sharply  from  the  previous  system  em¬ 
ployed  and  delivering  a  much  more  accur¬ 
ate  finished  product. 

“The  initial  entry  of  data  from  a  source 
document  -  for  example,  a  check  sent  in 
by  a  contributor  -  is  used  over  and  over 
again  for  multiple  applications  through¬ 
out  our  accounting  system,”  said  Ken¬ 
neth  Pierce,  director  of  systems  design. 

“With  the  programmed  error  checks 
built  into  the  system  and  the  special 
formats  or  “masks”  for  data  entry,  which 
operators  can  display  on  the  screen  and 
visually  scan,  we  can  be  sure  the  data  we 
enter  is  correct  the  first  time.  That’s  our 
building  block.  On  that,  we  structure  the 
rest  of  our  accounting  edifice.” 

Primary  applications  at  the  installation 
currently  include  income  accounting 
from  contributors  and  other  sources,  ac¬ 
counts  payable  and  general  ledger  ac¬ 
counting  for  12  separate  entities  within 
City  of  Hope. 

Also,  the  coordinated  data  entry/data 
processing  characteristics  of  the  system 
allow  its  use  for  update  chores  on  City  of 
Hope’s  300,000-name  master  contributor 
file. 

City  of  Hope  has  developed  over  100 
special  application  programs  and  routines 
for  use  with  the  system.  These  programs 
are  kept  on  disk  storage  and  can  be  called 
up  for  on-line  use  by  any  of  the  operators 
at  the  video  display  units  through  key¬ 
board  selections. 

Many  of  these  programs  will  cause  dis¬ 
play  of  various  formats,  or  “masks,”  on 
the  CRT  screens  for  various  data  entry 
applications  to  allow  faster,  more  accur¬ 
ate  input  of  data  from  source  documents. 

The  programs  developed  will  be  made 
available  to  other  hospitals  and  fund-rais¬ 
ing  institutions  with  comparable  adminis¬ 
trative  requirements,  according  to  Pierce. 

Industry  Targeting 
On  Small  Business 

(Continued  from  Page  S/l  6) 
niques  oriented  toward  experienced  users. 

Data  base  inquiry  is  a  third  area  where 
the  needs  of  the  small  business  have  not 
been  addressed  by  industry  develop¬ 
ments.  While  the  small  firm  does  not  have 
the  requirement  for  huge  on-line  data 
bases  in  the  over  lOOM-byte  range,  he 
does  have  a  data  base  inquiry  require- 

Inventory  status,  customer  account 
status,  order  status,  etc.,  with  a  data  base 
in  the  5M-  to  lOM-byte  range,  would  be 
extremely  useful.  His  alternatives  are  an 
in-house  small  computer  system  with  a 
data  base  inquiry  capability  or  an  on-line 
terminal  connected  to  a  large  central 
computer  service  bureau. 

The  first  solution  is  precluded  to  most 
small  businesses  by  reason  of  equipment 
cost.  The  second  is  usually  precluded  by 
reason  of  line  cost. 

Solution  suppliers  must  look  beyond 


velop  an  understanding  of  the  small  busi¬ 
nessman’s  specific  accounting  practices, 
costs,  discount  structures,  market  areas, 


Powerful  and  friendy 

The  Hewlett-Packard  RTE- 
operating  system. 

Check  it  out 


V 


Up  to  256K  words  of  CPU  RAM 
memory,  providing  lots  of  room  for 
expansion. 


V 


Up  to  64  mapped  partitions,  for 
real-time  multiprogramming. 


O  *  Multi-terminal,  real-time  BASIC, 

°  /  FORTRAN  IV,  ALGOL  and  assembly 
language,  for  easy  program 
^  development. 

A  Multi-stream  batch,  for  increased 
efficiency. 

C  RJE  to  IBM  360/370,  for  convenient 
/  access  to  large  computers. 


£?  -  Fast  responseto  real-time  interrupts, 

w  for  measurement  and  control 


I/O  spooling,  for  increased 
throughput. 


O  Network  software,  for  remote 
u  f  file  access,  program  communication 
and  device-sharing  with  satellite 
computers. 


4K  RAM  semiconductor  memory, 
for  increased  reliability. 


10  X  Lar9e-capacity  discs  with  25  milli- 
w  *  second  average  access  time  and 
937  Kilobyte  transfer  rate,  for 
increased  performance. 


RTE-lll.  The  HP  21MX  series  does  it  again! 

Now,  there’s  Real  Time  Executive-Ill.  Just  one 
more  reason  to  choose  HP's  21MX  series  for 
your  real-time  applications. 

RTE-lll  gives  you  an  operating  system  geared  to 
the  complex  and  varied  needs  of  automated 
testing,  research  and  production  environments. 


RTE-lll  is  an  ideal  partner  for  HP’s  MX/65  or 
MX/ 55  DISComputers.  Or  use  it  with  our 
9600MX  Measurement  and  Control  systems. 

Prices  for  complete  systems  start  at  a  low 
$38,150*  for  a  32K  word  system. 

There  are  no  "maybes”  about  this  operating 


system.  It’s  the  latest  in  HP’s  family  of  proven, 
upward-compatible,  Real  Time  Executive 
systems.  Systems  that  have  been  proven  in 
hundreds  of  on-the-job  applications. 

To  check  out  all  the  benefits  of  HP’s  RTE-lll 
system  for  yourself,  give  your  nearby  HP  field 
engineer  a  call.  -us  Domestic  price  omy. 


HP  MiniSystems. 
They  work  for  a  Eving. 


HEWLETT  Jio:  PACKARD 


As  Price  of  Microprocessors  Falls 


BCOMPUTERWORLO 


JUNE  25,  1975 
MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS 


Competition  Seen  Increasing  in  Low-Cost  System  Mart 


le  dif-  systems  has  been  dominated  by  less.  A  microcomputer  system  ing  the  day  when,  as  part  of  the 


mmcomputer  semiconductor  form  for  $300  or  puter  systems.  We  are  approach- 

Hear  what  our 
competition  is 
savins  about 


I  he  stand-alone  systems  from 
Sykes  might  handle  laboratory 
processing,  data  communications 
or  accounting-type  applications, 
Belden  predicted.  Business  proc¬ 
essing  capabilities  would  be 
more  than  a  ledger  card  account¬ 
ing  machine,  but  probably  less 
than  a  typical  small  business 
system  of  today  because  of  disk 
storage  limitations,  the  president 
of  the  Rochester,  N.Y.-based 


gggfggf • 


Nothing.  amas 

the  SEL  32 

gives  you  more  “bang  for  the  buck”  than  any  other 
minicomputer.  And  that's  not  idle  gossip. 

Remember  Data  General’s  claim  that  other  compa¬ 
nies  didn't  run  benchmarks  against  the  Eclipse?  We 
did . . .  including  their  famous  Whetstone  benchmark. 
The  results?  The  SEL  32  ran  significantly  faster. 

As  for  Interdata,  they  compare  prices  and  specs  of  their 
8/32  against  the  Xerox  550,  IBM  370/158,  DEC  11/70 
and  Eclipse.  Why  was  the  SEL  32  omitted?  Truth  is,  the 
SEL  32  has  better  specs  and  lower  prices  than  any  of 
them.  For  example,  the  SEL  32  has  a  throughput  rate  of 
26.67-million  bytes  per  second  compared  to  6-million 
bytes  per  second  for  Interdata's  8/32.  As  for  price,  an  8/32 
with  128K  bytes  of  memory  will  cost  you  $51,900.  An 
SEL  32  with  the  same  memory  and  floating  point  will  cost 
u  only  $43,900. 

Ince  our  competition  isn’t  going  to  tell  you  anything  about  the 
12,  call  us  or  use  the  coupon.  Our  lips  aren’t  sealed.  Systems 
neering  Laboratories,  6901  West  Sunrise  Boulevard,  Fort 
Lauderdale,  Florida  33313.  (305)  587-2900.  In  Europe,  85  bis, 
Avenue  Albert  ler,  92  Rueil-Malmaison,  France.  Telephone 
967-83-17. 


\EXtEl  lJn 


microprocessors 
dedicated  systen 
President  Pat  Ki 
print  station  bi 


Microcomputer 
cheaper  and  slo 
handling  a  lot 


“They’re  also  goi 
at  the  NCR, 
where  processin 


speed  of  their  p 
ting  so  fast,”  he 
Price  remains 


JUNE  25, 1975  _ 

MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS  H&J  COMPU 


Functional  Approach  Key 
To  Buying  Turnkey  System 


Sample  RFP  Outline 


If  a  user  chooses  to  procure  a  turn¬ 
key  minicomputer  system  through 
functional  system  specifications,  the 
request  for  proposal  (RFP)  should 
clearly  indicate  this  to  vendors,  and 
show  how  the  functional  specifications 
will  be  used  in  evaluation  of  the  pro- 


.12  Rejection  of  Proposals 
.13  Disqualification  of  Bidders 
.14  Statement  of  Qualifications 
.15  Proposal  Content  and  Format 
4.00  Consideration  of  Proposals 
.01  Proposal  Tabulation,  Evaluation 
.02  Proposal  Presentations 


Therefore,  a  successful  turnkey  system 
procurement  should  encourage  the  kind 
of  bidding  in  which  potential  vendors  can 
demonstrate  the  strong  points  of  their 
particular  approach. 

The  procurement,  of  course,  must  also 
include  methods  for  specifying  the  sys¬ 
tem  requirements,  for  selecting  the  sys¬ 
tem  which  best  meets  those  requirements 
and  for  contracting  for  the  implementa¬ 
tion  of  the  selected  system. 

The  key  to  any  procurement  procedure, 
though,  is  specification  of  the  system 
requirements.  Many  users  make  the  mis¬ 
take  of  using  a  physical  specification  of 
the  type  normally  used  to  specify  con¬ 
struction  work. 

The  physical  specification  identifies  the 
minimum  physical  requirements  of  the 
hardware  and  software  in  detail  and  is 
usually  used  in  conjunction  with  a  low- 
bid  system  selection.  Proposed  systems 
which  fail  to  meet  a  specified  minimum 
requirement  are  rejected  for  noncompli- 

While  it  works  well  for  buying  concrete, 
this  approach  has  inherent  deficiencies 
when  applied  to  the  procurement  of  a 
turnkey  computer  system. 

The  physical  specification  fails  to  con¬ 
sider  the  system  as  a  single  integrated 
entity,  but  rather  considers  each  element 
of  the  system  separately. 

Total  system  capabilities,  as  expressed 
by  such  measures  as  throughput  or  re¬ 
sponse  time,  are  more  significant  than  the 
capabilities  of  individual  component  spe¬ 
cifications,  such  as  memory  cycle  time  or 
number  of  registers. 

Physical  specifications  are  often  used  as 
a  matter  of  convenience.  In  fact,  most 
physical  specifications  are  written  around 
one  company’s  hardware  and  software. 
Such  a  specification  obviously  gives  that 
company  a  tremendous  competitive  edge. 


The  specification  problem  can  be  solved 
by  the  use  of  a  functional  system  specifi¬ 
cation  which  places  the  emphasis  on  the 
functional  and  performance  requirements 
of- the  system.  The  functional  specifica¬ 
tion  does  not  omit  physical  requirements, 
but  they  are  stated,  however,  as  nominal 
specifications  intended  to  provide  a 
framework  within  which  each  bidder  can 
propose  the  best  integrated  system  to 
meet  the  overall  functional  requirements. 

The  first  problem  with  functional  spe¬ 
cifications  is  that  system  selection  be¬ 
comes  more  difficult.  If  physical  require¬ 
ments  are  interpreted  to  be  nominal  spe¬ 
cifications,  proposals  can  no  longer  be 
rejected  for  noncompliance.  Low-bid 
system  selection  must  be  replaced  with  a 
cost/performance  evaluation  of  the  pro- 

A  second  problem  is  the  flexibility 
which  the  functional  specification  pro¬ 
vides  during  the  proposal  process  is  not 
desirable,  in  fact  is  intolerable,  as  part  of 
the  contract  for  system  development.  The 
contract  requires  better  definition  than 
provided  by  a  functional  specification. 


tion  in  the  system  development  should  be 
described  in  this  section. 

Physical  Requirements:  A  description  of 
(Continued  on  Page  S/22) 


.06  Execution  of  Contract 
.07  Failure  to  Execute  Conti 
8.00  Contract  and  Bond  Fom 


well-stacked  floppy 

\  disk  systems  and 


disk  systems  and 
software 
drivers 


Now  running: 

DEC 


•OS/8 

•  RT-11 

•  4K  disk  monitor 


Stack  our  features  against  anyone’s! 

•  You  do  no  programming  to  run  these  operating  sys¬ 
tems. 

•  Hardware,  not  software,  performs  all  searching,  data 
blocking,  CRC  handling,  address  verification  and 
head  unloading.  Smart  controller! 

■  IBM  3740  compatible  at  all  levels,  including  use  of 
any  sector  sequence. 

•  Dual  and  single  drive  systems  with  field  proven  inter¬ 
faces. 

•  256K  byte  available  diskettes  with  various  sector  se¬ 
quences  to  optimize  data  access  time. 

•  Well  stacked  and  well  stocked,  call  us  for  immediate 


NOVA 


VARIAN 

•  MOS 

•  E-Basic 

H.P. 

•  DOS  III 


-  “1 

SYKES  DATATRONICS,  INC.  716-45M000 

375  ORCHARD  STREET  TELEX  97-S326 

•  DOS-M 

•  MTS 

ROCHESTER.  NEW  YORK  1««06 

Name  .  Title/ Dept.:  _ _ 

INTERDATA 

Address:  . . . . ,. _ _ 

City:  . 

State: . w . Zip  Code . 

•  OS/16-MT 

•  DOS 

Please  send  literature  for: 

□  PDP-8  □  VARIAN 

□  PDP-11  □  HEWLETT/PACKARD 

□  NOVA  □  INTERDATA 

_  _ _ J 

— 

PAGE  S/22 


JUNE  25, 1975 
MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS 


SILENTBLOC 

60/415HZ  .SO/441  Hz 

75kVA  POWER  UNIT  for  IBM 
370/168  Computers 

□  Low  noise  level,  63  DBA 

can  be  installed  in  computer  room 

□  Parallel  running  capability 

In-flight  switching  -  no  computer  down  time 

□  High  performance 


see  us  at  Digital,  the  leader  in  minicomputer  techno¬ 
logy.  We'll  steer  you  in  the  right  direction. 

Excellent  positions  are  currently  available  in  the 
New  York/New  Jersey  and  Maryland/Virginia  areas 
in  all  of  the  following  markets.  And  each  of  them 
offers  outstanding  potential  for  managerial  growth. 
DATA  COMMUNICATIONS  LAB  DATA  ACQUISITION 
PROCESS  CONTROL  EDUCATIONAL  SYSTEMS 
LARGE  SYSTEMS  OEM 


digital  equipment  corporation 

An  Equal  Opportunity  Employer 


Successfal  Turnkey  System  Purchase 
Requires  Use  of  Functienal  Approach 

(Continued  from  Page  S/21)  come  up  with  a  way  of  relating  Proposed  systems  can  be  evalu- 

the  required  computer  and  pe-  the  capabilities  of  a  proposed  ated  through  the  application  of 
ripheral  equipment.  Hardware  system  to  the  bid  price  of  the  evaluation  criteria  which  repre¬ 
specifications  should  be  stated  as  system  so  a  single  measure  of  sent,  in  quantitative  terms,  the 
nominal  values.  It  is  important  cost/performance  is  available  for  importance  the  user  places  on 
to  state  any  preferences  the  user  comparison  purposes.  specified  attributes  of  the  corn- 

may  have  and  also  to  state  any  The  most  sensible  approach  to  puter  system, 
alternatives  the  user  sees  as  being  a  cost/performance  evaluation  is  It  is  also  important  to  evaluate 
acceptable. 

Performan 
statement 


Writing  a  good  functional 

The  functional  approach  pro¬ 
vides  the  desirable  flexibility  to 
the  system  specification  at  the 
expense  of  adding  the  problem 
of  interpretation. 

There  is  an  increased  require¬ 
ment  for  responsibility  on  the 
part  of  both  the  user  and  the 
bidder.  The  user  must  make  sure 
the  specification  honestly  repre¬ 
sents  the  requirements  of  the 
system  he  is  trying  to  buy.  The 
bidder  has  a  responsibility  to 


Once  the  system  specification 
has  been  completed,  it  is  com¬ 
bined  with  a  request  for  pro¬ 
posals  (RFP)  and  general  specifi¬ 
cations  to  form  the  bid  docu¬ 
ment. 

The  RFP  must  give  the  bidder 
a  clear  idea  of  the  functional 
nature  of  the  specification  and 
how  it  will  be  used  in  the  evalua¬ 
tion  of  the  proposals. 

It  must  also  specify  what  infor¬ 
mation  is  required  in  the  pro¬ 
posal,  where  and  when  proposals 
will  be  received  and  the  condi¬ 
tions  of  submitting  a  proposal. 

Let  us  turn  for  the  moment  to 
the  problem  of  proposal  evalua- 


and  effective  way  of  main¬ 
taining  your  equipment  for 
less  than  254  a  cleaning. 

It  includes  everything 


ngKYBE 


Basic  Four 
Data  General 
Datapoint 
Digital  Equipment 

GAMBIT 

Hewlett-Packard 

IBM 

Interdata 

Lockheed 


Call  GAMBIT  for  design,  programming  and  installation 
of  all  business  applications.  Let  GAMBIT  be  your 
middle  man! 


JUNE  25, 1975 

MINICOMPUTERS  AND  SMALL  SYSTEMS  H3  COMPUTERWORLO 

PAGE  S/23 

Right  Approach  Aids  Purchase 

(Continued  from  Page  S/221  •  Final  design  and  drawings  nical  specifications  by  the  user, 
i  the  maximum  penalty  which  for  any  special  consoles  or  other  If,  for  some  reason,  agreement 

)  may  be  assigned  for  each  item,  hardware.  cannot  be  reached  between  the 

Only  $10,000  ■ 

Di'.k  Olive  a ni!  Controller  fl| 

tm  Data  Geneuii  computeis  HjjH 

sider  the  projected  system  life.  •  Complete  functional  descri-  technical  specifications,  the  con- 

Penalties  may  be  assigned  on  a  ptions  of  all  computer  programs  tract  should  contain  a  provision 
one-time  or  recurring  basis,  de-  including  I/O  requirements.  to  pay  the  contractor  for  the 

pending  on  the  nature  of  the  •  Data  base  design.  work  done  with  no  further  obli- 

<  evaluation  item,  up  to  the  maxi-  •  Display  and  report  formats,  gation  to  the  user, 

t  mum  penalty  specified  for  each  •  Installation  drawings.  The  payment  should  not  be 

Special  lease  and  rental  rates  on 

DECwriterlls 

Centronics  printers 

CRTs 

Disk  drives  (29/58  megabytes) 

Some  rentals  as  short  as  90  days. 

evaluation  item.  •  Detailed  test  procedures.  excessively  high.  The  contractor 

The  assignment  of  penalties  is  •  Detailed  documentation  should  be  encouraged  to  make 
based  on  the  existence  of  some  standards.  his  profit  during  Phase  11. 

1  deficiency  which  will  require  A  notice  to  proceed  with  Phase  Churchman  is  scientific  pro- 

additional  development,  pur-  11,  system  development,  is  issued  gramming  supervisor  for  the  City 
chase  or  support  or  a  deficiency  only  after  approval  of  the  tech-  of  Dallas. 

ALH  ASSOCIATES  22ST™ 

Computer  Equipment  &  Systems  (213)532  1800 

HSrss  Silent  700 ASR  Data  Terminals 

which  best  meets  the  specified  ^  ■  ■  ■■■ 

sr=“  eliminate  paper  tape  problems 

A  summation  of  the  assigned  m  m  ®  ■ 

i  1 .  Installed  systems  of  similar 

)  size  and  nature. 

2.  Standard  computer  hard¬ 
ware  and  software  base. 

3.  Length  of  experience. 

4.  Specific  application  experi- 

B.  Company  Resources. 

1.  Personnel. 

2.  FacUities. 

3.  Depth  of  resources. 

4.  Financial. 

C.  Support  Capabilities. 

1 .  Maintenance  organization. 

2.  Location  of  maintenance 

support. 

3.  Software  support. 

The  final  important  element  of 
the  functional  approach  to  a 
turnkey  system  procurement  is 
the  two-phase  contract. 

As  previously  discussed,  one  of 
the  problems  presented  in  the 
use  of  a  functional  specification 
is  it  does  not  provide  sufficient 
definition  for  a  contract  to  de¬ 
velop  the  system. 

There  is  a  need  for  a  single 
document  which  specifies  in  de¬ 
tail  the  system  and  the  work  to 
be  performed  by  the  contractor. 

Phase  I  of  the  contract  is  the 
final  design  phase  during  which 
technical  specifications  are  de¬ 
veloped  by  the  contractor  in  co¬ 
operation  with  the  user. 

These  technical  specifications 
should  satisfy  the  requirements 
of  the  system  specification  and 
should  be  specific  to  the  hard¬ 
ware,  software  and  services  of¬ 
fered  in  the  contractor’s  pro- 

Other  requirements  should  be 
developed  during  Phase  I  so  the 
technical  specifications  com¬ 
pletely  describe  the  hardware, 
software  and  services  to  be  pro¬ 
vided  by  the  contractor  during 
the  second  phase  of  the  con¬ 
tract.  The  following  items 
should  be  included  in  the  techni¬ 
cal  specifications: 

•  Detailed  specifications  for 
all  major  equipment. 

•  Specifications  of  all  neces¬ 
sary  minor  equipment. 


with  magnetic  tape  convenience  and 
real  cost-saving  features...at  an  affordable $2750 

Reduce  operating  cost 

Silent  700*  ASR  Electronic  Data 
Terminals  are  designed  to  reduce 
operating  costs.  Compared  to  paper 
tape,  the  magnetic  tape  cassettes 
used  in  Silent  700  ASR  data  terminals 
are  faster,  easier  to  handle,  easier  to 
edit,  and  easier  to  file. 

They  enable  you  to  reduce  training 
time  and  streamline  operating  proce¬ 
dures  with  complete  off-line  block  and 
character  data  editing. 

In  cost-sensitive  timesharing  appli¬ 
cations,  Silent  700  ASR  terminals  cut 
computer  connect  time  with  simultane¬ 
ous  on-line  data  transmission  and  off¬ 
line  data  preparation.  And,  they  reduce 
line  charges  with  transmission  speeds 
of  10,  15,  30,  and  optionally  120 
characters  per  second. 


Improving  man’s  effectiveness  through  electronics 


Texas  Instruments 


•Trademark  of  Texas  Instruments 


Reduce  expansion  cost 

Additionally,  Silent  700  ASR  terminals 
can  reduce  your  system  expansion 
costs.  Their  modular  design  allows 
you  to  enhance  terminal  performance 
as  system  requirements  grow. 

Many  options  are  available  for  this 
purpose  . . .  such  as  built-in  acoustic 
couplers  and  modems,  1200  Baud 
transmission,  automatic  answer  and 
answer-back  memory  and  automatic 
search  of  cassette  control  functions. 

Reduce  downtime 

Silent  700  ASR  data  terminals  are  so 
reliable  that  you  can  virtually  eliminate 
over-time  work  requirements  caused 
by  terminal  downtime.  How?  The  key 
factors  are  solid-state  reliability 
backed  by  electronic  integrated 


circuits,  quiet  electronic  printhead,  and 
accurate  digital  grade  magnetic  tape 
cassettes. 

So,  if  you’re  concerned  with 
improving  the  data  handling  opera¬ 
tions  of  your  firm  . . .  regardless  of 
whether  they  involve  point-to-point 
communications  networks,  data  entry, 
or  timesharing  . . .  Tl  can  offer  an 
affordable  answer. 

For  more  information  on  how  the 
Silent  700  ASR  terminals  can  reduce 
your  operating  costs,  call  the  nearest 
sales  office  listed  below.  Or,  write 
Texas  Instruments  Incorporated,  P.O. 
Box  1444,  M/S  784,  Houston, 

Texas  77001. 

Or,  call  Terminal 
Marketing  at  (713) 

494-5115,  Ext.  2126. 


INCORPORATED 


Six  of  the  best  reasons  for  buying 
Data  General  computer  systems. 


If  a  computer  system  can’t  do  a  good 
job  of  file  handling,  chances  are  it  won’t 
do  your  job  well  either. 

So  we  give  you  a  lot  of  good  ways  to 
handle  your  files. 

We  offer  six  different  disc  subsystems. 
From  0.3  to  360  megabytes  in  size;  with 
transfer  rates  from  30K  to  800K  bytes 
per  second;  and  prices  from  $2,900  to 
$110,000.  So  you  can  pick  out  the  ones 
that  work  the  way  you  work. 

And  we  fully  support  all  our  disc 
drives  with  our  systems  software.  With 
RDOS  and  MRDOS  for  example,  you 
can  keep  your  high-use  data  on  fast  access 
discs,  and  data  you  need  less  on  slower 
discs.  With  INFOS,  you  can  logically 
partition  a  file  across  different  physical 
media  to  get  the  most  efficient  use  of  your 
system  peripherals. 

All  our  operating  systems  treat  all 


our  peripherals  like  files.  Which  makes 
our  files  device  independent.  And  a  lot 
easier  for  you  to  use. 

And  because  all  our  operating  systems 
share  the  same  file  structure,  you  can 
maintain  and  operate  your  files  with  any 
of  our  languages:  FORTRAN,  BASIC, 
ALGOL,  RPGII,  MACRO  assembler. 

And  you  can  use  any  combination  of 
disc  drives.  So  you  can  manage  files  from 
one  to  one  billion  bytes  and  match  your 
file  handling  to  your  application. 

Yet  with  all  the  flexibility  we  give  you, 
we  don’t  demand  a  lot  in  return.  You  can  get 
an  Eclipse  S/200  system  with  64K  bytes 
of  core  and  a  10  megabyte  disc  file  for 
under  $30,000.  (quantity  one,  list  price.) 

Write  for  more  information. 

You  may  end  up  buying  our  com¬ 
puter  systems  because  of  the  way 
we  handle  your  files. 


DataGeneral 


Data  General, Route  9,  Southboro,  Mass.  01 772  (61 7)  485-9100.  Data  General  (Canada)  Ltd.,  Ontario, 

DataGeneral  Europe, 1 5Rue  Le  Sueur,  Paris  75116,  France.  Data  General  Australia,  Melbourne  (03)  82- 1 36 1 /Sydney  (02)  908- 1 366. 


Mini  Bits 

Cemmnnkatiens  Controller 
Offered  for  Tally  Printers 


Ml  N I  WORLD 


First  Hospital  With  S/32  finds 

Small  In-House  System  Saves  $12,000 


PETOSKEY,  Mich.  -  Lockwood-  “No  one  will  pay  a  wrong  bili 
MacDonald  Hospital  here  has  become  the  people  will  readily  respond  t< 
nation's  first  hospital  to  use  IBM's  newest  90-day  late  bill.’’ 

and  smallest  computer,  the  System/32.  The  key,  then,  is  to  use  the  small  system 

“We’ve  installed  the  System/32  to  re-  in  a  up-to-date  accurate  manner.  The  IAP 


s  controller  from  place  a  system  which,  though  it  worked  handles  posting. 


ind  few  small  diskettes  holding  data  to  be  loaded 
60-  or  directly  into  the  computer,  thereby  pro¬ 
viding  information  availability  24  hours  a 
system  day. 

Tie  IAP  “We’ve  had  to  add  no  new  personnel  to 
Tinting,  convert  to  our  in-house  computer,” 


An  Important  offer  to  users  of  timesharing  terminals. 


No  terminal  supplier  can  offer  you  more  experience  and 
better  service  for  the  cost  than  Western  Union  Data  Services 
Company. 

Our  years  of  experience  in  the  timesharing  terminal  field 
have  produced  a  product  line  with  more  than  250  terminal 
options.  So  you  can  be  sure  the  terminals  we  provide  match 
your  specific  operating  requirements. 

You  can  choose  a  cost-effective  terminal  configuration 
from  our  wide  variety  of  models,  with  speeds  from  1 0  c.p.s. 
to120c.p.s. 


All  Western  Union  Data  Services  terminals  come  with 
Termicare®  our  exclusive  diagnostic,  maintenance  and 
support  service.  One  toll-free  call  for  nationwide  service. 

Wed  like  to  show  you  how  you  can  get  the  most  from 
your  timesharing  terminals.  Just  call  us  today  at  800-631-7050. 
(In  New  Jersey,  201  -529- 1170.)  Or  write  to  Western  Union 
Data  Services  Company,  70  McKee  Drive,  Mahwah,  New 
New  Jersey  07430. 

Ul  U  data  SGfVICBS  company 

western  union 


Progress  Report: 


370/158 USERS: 

NOW  YOU  CAN 
RECONFIGURE  YOUR 
MEMORY, 
DUPLEX  IT, 

RACK  IT  Wl 
EXPAND  IT  TO  4  MEGS, 
AND  SAVE  UP  TO  40%. 


How? 

With  Cambridge’s  new  370/STOR 158-3  add-on 
memory  system  that  expands  most  models  of 
the  IBM  System/370  Model  158  processor, 
including  the  new  Mod  3  versions. 

370/STOR  158-3  is  the  newest  in  a  line  of 
memories  that  has  made  Cambridge  the  largest 
independent  memory  supplier  to  System/370 
processors — with  over  250  megabytes  installed. 
That  success  has  been  the  result  of  building 
products  with  performance  features  that  go 
beyond  the  ordinary.  And  370/STOR  158-3  has 
plenty  of  them. 

Features  like  easy  interconnection.  Impeccable 
reliability.  The  ability  to  do  more  with  our 


memory  them  with  anyone  else’s.  For  example, 
your  operators  can  quickly  shift  either  370/STOR 
or  host  IBM  memory  to  off-line  status,  while  the 
other  memory  runs.  Or  you  can  reconfigure 
the  size  of  operating  memory  with  just  a  simple 
switch  setting.  Or  you  can  back-up  either  main 
memory,  or  "bump”  memory,  if  you  need 
to  do  so. 

Whether  your  Model  158  processor  is  purchased 
or  rented,  you  can  save  up  to  40  per  cent  on  the 
memory  attached  to  it.  It’s  as  easy  as  ordering 
370/STOR  158-3. 

Find  out  more  from  your  local  Cambridge  sales 
office  listed  below. 


A  good  place  to  put  your  information. 


dll  Cambridge  Memories,  Inc.,  12  Crosby  Drive,  Bedford,  Mass.  01730  (617)  271-6400 

Contact  our  sales  offices  for  further  information:  Boston  (617)  271-6400  •  Westport,  Conn.  (203)  227-7027  •  Philadelphia 

(215)  295-1186  •  Cleveland  (216)  842-2808  •  Columbus,  O.  (614)  459-0154  •  Atlanta  (404)  252-1382  •  Hollywood,  Fla. 

(305)925-3348  •  San  Francisco  (415)  692-4806  •  New  York  City  (201 )  871-0110  •  Rochester  (716)  637-2410  •  Chicago 

(312)  449-5260  •  Detroit  (313)  557-4080  •  Washington,  D.C.  (703)  683-5323  •  Dallas  (214)  231-4804  •  Houston  (713)  661-0381 

•  Los  Angeles  (213)  595-1845  •  Charlotte,  N.C.  (704)  568-1787  •  St.  Louis,  Mo.  (314)  822-2212  •  Minneapolis  (612)  831-1311 

Subsidiary:  Cambridge  Memories  GmbH,  6078  Neu  Isenburg,  West  Germany  06102-36092  •  Cambridge  Memories  AG, 

CH  8002  Zurich,  Switzerland  00411-253824. 


^COMPUTER  WORLD 


Page  27 


of  Usual  Mainframe  Cost 


College  Conferencing  Net  to  Cost  $2/Hour  per  CPU 


NEWARK,  N.J.  -  The  advent  of  high-  memory. 


inference  by  typing  in  their  key  a 


performance  minicomputers  has  reduced  The  32-bit  Interdata  minicomputer  can  and  then  asking  for  an  updated  review  of  their  own  convenience, 
the  cost  of  computerized  conversations  to  handle  that  efficiently  and  economically  previous  conversations  contributed  by  the  “The  monitor  and  participants  develop 
the  point  where  their  widespread  use  is  since  mainframe  memory  can  be  used,  other  participants.  These  conversations  data,  including  a  glossary  and  bibli- 

now  economically  feasible,  according  to  and  swapping  requirements  to  disk  stor-  have  been  stored  in  the  computer's  mem-  ography,  on  the  subject  under  discussion. 

Dr.  Murray  Turoff  of  the  New  Jersey  age  are  minimized.  Service  for  a  large  ory.  The  data  is  identified  by  its  source,  either 

Institute  of  Technology  (NJIT),  formerly  number  of  users  is  feasible.”  Basically,  Turoff  explained,  a  computer  within  the  community  or  outside  of  it. 


per  hour. 

“This  cost  is  approximately  one  tenth 
the  usual  cost  of  $20  per  hour  for  main¬ 
frame  computers  used  in  this  applica¬ 
tion,”  said  Turoff.  The  institute  has  re¬ 
cently  been  awarded  a  grant  from  the 
National  Science  Foundation  (NSF)  to 
develop  computer  conferencing  on  a  na¬ 
tional  scale  in  a  project  directed  by 
Turoff. 

“At  these  rates,  we  will  probably  see 
future  costs  charged  on  a  message  basis 
rather  than  hourly  basis,"  he  predicted. 
“And,  as  a  result,  we  can  easily  compute 
total  cost,  including  preparation,  of  about 
$  1  per  message. 

The  NJIT  system  will  be  built  to  service 
up  to  100  participants  initially  and  be 
expandable  up  to  600  or  more  users. 

Economically  Practical 

“Other  systems  have  been  developed  on 
Digital  Equipment  Corp.  PDP-10  or  Uni- 
vac  1100  series  computer,”  Turoff  ex-, 
plained.  “The  advent  of  inexpensive  ter¬ 
minals  and  directly  addressable  M-byte- 
memory  minicomputers  makes  them 
economically  practical. 

“Introduction  of  the  32-bit-oriented  In¬ 
terdata  7/32  convinced  me  conferencing 
was  economically  feasible,”  Turoff  re¬ 
marked. 

“Direct  access  to  1M  bytes  of  main¬ 
frame  memory  is  essential  for  the  success- 
operation  of  a  conferee-' - **-**■■ 


Computer  conferencing  participants  use  a  brief  description  of  their  association  or  is  participants  have  the  opportunity  to 

a  system’s  terminals  to  confer  and  discuss  qualifications  for  the  project  and  their  clarify  their  ideas  in  the  discussion  with- 

subjects  at  their  own  pace.  home  and  office  telephone  numbers,  out  interfering  or  interrupting  another 

Participants  gain  access  to  a  computer  Once  listed,  participants  may  read  and  conferee.” 


GREAT 

COMPUTER 


re-submitted  to  the  GCS  21 00  for  editing, 
reformatting,  etc.) 

The  GCS  2100  can  interface  up  to  thirty-two 
telephone  lines.  Card  readers.  Medium  and 
high  speed  line  printers.  Four-tape  drives.  Four 
fixed  or  moving  head  discs. 


Big  Drawing  Plotter 
Features  Built-In  Micro 

PALO  ALTO,  Calif. -The  ability  to 
handle  22-in.  by  34-in.  drawings  with 


>aster  document  handling). 
How  reliable  it  is  [less  than  1%  downtime).  How 
simple  it  is  (operator  training  time  less  than  8 
hours).  Or  how  economical  it  is  (1 0%  to  40% 
savings  in  data  preparation  costs). 

And  our  competitors  have  loved  us  for  keeping 
it  such  a  secret! 

The  GCS  2100  is  a  complete  data  entry 
system:  it  lets  you  collect  and  edit  data  at  the 
source  [data  is  actually  edited  while  it  is  being 
keyed):  store  the  data  on  disc;  then  transfer  the 
clean  data  to  an  output  media  like  magnetic  tape. 
[Data  already  on  tape  or  cards  can  be 


The  GCS  2100  also  provides  up  to  99  format 
levels  per  job:  up  to  255  balance  accumulators; 
variable  length  record  and  blocking  factors;  anc 
to  255  jobs  stored  in  the  system. 

GCS  2100  Peripherals:  GCS  DataTone  - 
data  entry  via  Touch-Tone®  telephones.  GCS 
Data  Tel  —  remote  batch  communications. 

For  more  Great  Computer  Secrets,  contact 
Agent  2100  at  General  Computer  Systems.  Inc 
16600  Dooley  Road.  Addison.  Texas  75001 . 
[800)  527-256B  toll  free.  In  Texas  (214)  233-51 


GCS  2100 


You’re  already  paying  for  BASF  quality,  you  might  as  well  have  it. 


Our  Systems  3  and  single  disk  cartridges  are  two 
more  areas  where  a  little  over-engineering  on  our  part  gives 
you  an  extra  performance  edge.  Take  our  coating  methods 
...  as  packing  densities  get  higher,  coating  thickness  gets 
more  critical.  So  we’ve  discarded  conventional  coating  and 
polishing  methods  in  favor  of  an  exclusive  process  using 
our  own  BASF-designed  equipment.  The  result ...  a  sur¬ 
face  so  flat  that  the  possibility  of  head  crash  being  caused 
by  unevenness  is  completely  eliminated. 

We  test.  We  do  scratch  tests  to  check  coating 
thickness,  impact  tests  to  determine  head  crash  resistance, 
detergent  tests  to  check  resistance  to  wear  and  tempera¬ 
ture  variations,  and  drop  tests  to  make  sure  nothing  goes 
out  of  whack  during  shipment.  If  anything  can  go  wrong, 
we’ll  make  it  happen  here  rather  than  on  your  drive. 

One  more  point.  We  don’t  charge  a  premium  price 
for  premium  performance.  You’re  already  paying  for  BASF 
quality . . .  you  may  as  well  have  it.  For  more  information  on 
BASF  Flexydisks,  Systems  3  disks,  or  single  disk 
cartridges,  write  to  BASF  Systems,  Crosby  Drive,  Bedford, 
MA  01730 ...  or  call  our  nearest  regional  office:  in  Los 
Angeles,  (213)  386-7023;  in  Chicago,  (312)  343-6618; 
and  in  Clifton,  NJ,  (201)  473-8424. 


All  magnetic  media  will  perform  to  industry  stand¬ 
ards.  And  most  of  the  time,  for  most  of  the  applications  in 
the  field,  that’s  performance  enough.  But  what  about  those 
times  when  you  have  to  push  your  equipment  a  little 
harder?  Like  when  you  have  to  exceed  normal  head 
loadings,  or  when  your  storage  environment  leaves  a  lot  to 
be  desired.  It’s  for  this  reason  that  BASF  exceeds  industry 
standards  with  our  Flexydisks,  Systems  3  disks,  and  single 
disk  cartridges.  We  make  a  product  better  than  you  need, 
because  there  could  be  times  when  you  need  it. 

Take  our  Flexydisks,  for  example.  Each  one  is 
1 00%  certified,  and  pre-formatted  for  immediate  use. 
Flexydisks  have  a  clean,  debris-free  surface  like  our 
premium  2000/A.D.  computer  tape.  A  special  dual- 
purpose  coating  gives  increased  disk  and  head  life.  Our 
tests  have  shown  head  wear  to  be  less  than  23.5  micro¬ 
inches  in  92  hours  of  head-loaded  operation.  And  if  your 
drive  is  updated,  don’t  worry;  Flexydisks  are  coated  and 
finished  on  both  sides.  Just  to  be  sure. 

To  keep  time  and  use  from  taking  theirtoll,  we 
protect  our  Flexydisks  in  a  special  self-cleaning  jacket  and 
liner.  This  little  packaging  extra  cuts  down  on  friction  and 
the  possibility  of  errors. 


S  COMPUTER  WORLD 


Page  29 


By  Monitoring  Car's  functions 

Mini  in  the  Pit  May  Be  Rncer’s  Edge 

INDIANAPOLIS  -  A  mini  tucked  in  a  During  a  race,  the  computer  will  keep  increased  friction  in  the  engine,  which  is 
corner  of  the  pit  area  will  help  one  of  the  track  of'  the  fuel  the  car  uses.  “This  is  an  indication  a  part  is  failing, 
most  successful  automobile  racing  teams  vital  in  a  race,”  Alexander  said,  "because  Depending  on  the  degree  of  increase, 
finely  tune,  its  cars  for  races,  “listen  in”  there  previously  was  no  way  to  accurately  the  position  of  the  car  and  how  far  along 


General  Corp.  Nova  2  mini  which  makes 
comparisons  between  various  readings 
and  does  the  computations  that  make  the 
data  meaningful  to  the  pit  crew. 

“The  car  will  have  14  of  its  functions 
monitored,”  said  Tyler  Alexander,  Team 
McLaren’s  director  of  engineering.  “The 
computer  will  track  the  ride  height  of 
each  of  the  four  wheels,  the  forward  and 
sideward  acceleration,  the  oil  and  water 
temperature,  oil  and  water  pressure,  man¬ 
ifold  pressure,  air  inlet  temperature,  tur¬ 
bocharger  airflow  and  fuel  flow.” 

Alexander  noted  some  of  the  measure¬ 
ments  will  be  used  when  preparing  a  car 
for  a  race,  and  others  will  play  an  impor¬ 
tant  role  during  a  race. 

Micos  System  Gets 
Swopping  Memory 

ELMSFORD,  N.Y.  -  The  capability  of 
the  Micos  minicomputer  system  from 
Mini-Computer  Systems,  Inc.  has  been 
enlarged  with  a  high-speed,  random-access 
swapping  memory. 

Users  electing  the  solid-state  Model 
1301-18  swapper  rather  than  standard 


byte/sec. 

With  the  optional  swapping  memory, 
the  Micos  system  will  support  two  to  four 
times  as  many  terminals  without  any 
decrease  in  the  response  time  of  individ¬ 
ual  terminals,  the  firm  said. 

Model  1301-18  consists  of  a  control 
board  occupying  a  single  slot  in  the  com¬ 
puter  chassis  and  an  external  chassis  con¬ 
taining  up  to  64K  bytes  of  memory.  A 
system  can  be  configured  to  build  a  mem¬ 
ory  beyond  512K  bytes. 

Each  64K-byte  unit  permits  the  user  to 
allocate  space  per  terminal  as  desired.  The 


7 

rj 

I  '.  L 

TAD 

1 

1  ±  Jj 

iTI 

MEMORY  DEALS 


cmps  on  plug-in  circuit  I 

The  Model  1 301-18  swapper  is  priced  at 
$8,500  for  the  first  32K  bytes  of  memory 
and  an  additional  $3,500  for  each  32K 
bytes  above  that. 

The  firm  is  at  525  Executive  Blvd., 
10523. 

Facit-Addo  Interfaces 
Tope  Punch,  5275 

SECAUCUS,  N.J.  -  Facit-Addo,  Inc. 
has  an  interface  for  the  Facit  4070  75 
char./sec  tape  punch  to  the  IBM  5275 
numerical  control  station. 

The  interface  board  works  in  a  charac¬ 
ter-by-character  .  mode  and  includes  an 
SPST  switch  for  selecting  either  EIA 
RS-232  or  ISO  8  channel  code. 

A  single  cable  is  supplied  with  the  4070 
tape  punch  machine  to  connect  it  to  the 
numerical  control  station.  Both  the  inter¬ 
face  and  the  signal  cable  are  made  to  be 
purchased  as  one  unit  for  $710. 

The  Facit  4070  is  a  compact,  0  to  75 
char./sec  tape  punch.  The  firm  is  at  501 
Winsor  Drive,  07094. 


THE  BEST  FOR  LESS 
Need  memory?  Fabri-Tek  is  now  offering  the  in¬ 
dustry's  best  IBM  and  UNIVAC  memories  — at 
the  industry's  lowest  prices.  Spectacular  reduc¬ 
tions  on  both  purchase  and  lease  prices.  Lease 
length  and  terms  tailored  to  your  needs.  Imme¬ 
diate  delivery.  All  new  equipment,  so  it's  eligible 
for  investment  tax  credit.  All  360  models.  370, 
models  155  and  165.  System/3,  model  10. 
UNIVAC  494,  1106,  and  1108.  Factory  installa¬ 
tion  and  full  maintenance  available.  You're 
assured  of  the  continued  high  standards  of  serv¬ 
ice  that  Fabri-Tek  is  noted  for.  What  more  could 
you  askl 


WE  RE  READY  FOR  YOUR  CALL 

Boston  617/969-5077  Minneapolis  612/935-8811 

Chicago  312/437-4116  New  York  516/273-8600 

Dallas  214/661-3155  Orlando  305/857-1050 

Denver  303/753-0631  Philadelphia  215/643-7512 

Detroit  313/348-2161  San  Jose  408/246-8391 

Long  Beach  213/420-2493  Union,  NJ  201/964-4770 

Spain:  CERO 

South  America:  Compania  Nacional  de 
Computacion  S.A. 

United  Kingdom:  Fabri-Tek  Computer  Components 
Far  East:  Orient  Research 
Europe:  Telex  International 


FABRI-TEK  i 


Of  course  you  should. 

The  EDP  Seminar  Series  gives  you  the  information  you  need  to  keep  ahead  of  this  fast-changing  industry. 


We've  selected  leading  experts  from  around  the  country  to  give  seminars  on  some  of  the  most 
important  topics  on  today's  EDP  scene.  These  seminars  are  current,  practically  oriented,  and  packed 
with  detailed  information  They  will  help  you  save  time  and  money  And  they  can  give  you  the 


Data  Communications 

Course  #1010- 

Practical  Data  Communications  Systems  and  Concepts 

This  course  will  give  you  the  information  you  need  to  master  the  newest  developments  in  Data 
Communications  Led  by  the  nationally  recognized  teleprocessing  consultant.  Dr.  Dixon  Doll, 
the  course  covers  recent  changes  in  areas  like  SDLC  HiD-LoD,  DDS,  newly  approved  major 
revisions  to  WATS,  and  the  impact  of  satellite  carriers.  This  seminar  runs  two  days,  and  total 
cost,  including  workbook,  reference  materials,  luncheons  and  continental  breakfasts  is  $350. 
Additional  registrants  from  the  same  company  qualify  for  a  reduced  rate  of  $300.  Current 

Orlando  -  July  2-3 

San  Diego  -  September  29-30 

New  York  -  October  13-14 

Course  #1020- 

Advanced  Teleprocessing  Systems  Analysis  and  Design 

This  course  is  a  follow  up  to  Course  #1010.  with  special  emphasis  on  problem  solving  techniques 
for  minimizing  operating  costs  In  commercial  data  communications  networks.  Also  led  by 
Dr  Dixon  Doll,  the  course  covers  procedures,  approaches  and  algorithms  for  evaluating  and 
cost  optimizing  network  organizations. 


Data  Base  Design 


A  practical  approach  to  the  design.  Implementation,  and  maintenance  of  data  base 
systems. 

Effective  data  base  system  design  requires  both  a  complete  knowledge  of  the  facilities  provided 
by  a  data  base  package,  and  a  basic  understanding  of  the  mechanisms  which  can  be  employed 
to  construct  data  base  systems  In  fact,  the  former  is  of  questionable  value  without  the  latter 
This  course  is  a  package  independent  examination  of  the  techinques  required  for  the  design 
of  effective  data  base  systems  Thelopics  covered  include 

•  Effective  Record  Design 

•  Physical  Storage  Techniques 


company  qualify  for  a  reduced  rate  of  $400.  Current  schedule  is  as  follows: 


September  22  -  24 
December  1  -  3 


How  to  draft  effective 
legal  agreements 

A  one-day  workshop  for  non-legal,  technical  people. 


Performance  Evaluation  and  Improvement 

A  seminar  actually  designed  to  save  your  installation  money. 

This  course  starts  with  a  discussion  of  questions  and  specific  problems  attendees  have  about 
system  performance  at  their  own  installation.  Then  step  by  step  each  attendee  will  learn  the 
methodology  necessary  to  understand  the  problems  and  implement  the  answers.  The 
techniques  presented  at  this  seminar  are  in  effect  at  numerous  installations  today,  and  have 


How  to  Increase 
Programming  Productivity 

A  two-day  seminar  on  the  state  of  the  art  of  Software  Engineering. 

can  increase  the  effecthreness  of  you^overall  computer  operations 
by  increasing  the  efficiency  and  reliability  of  your  programming. 

This  seminar  covers  in  detail  the  programming  techniques  and 
management  methods  that  will  enable  you  to  realize  cost/time 
savings  at  your  installation. 

Our  seminar  leader  is  John  W.  Brackett.  PhD.  Vice  president  of 
SofTech.  Under  his  direction  you  will  learn  how  to: 

•  Make  the  analysis  and  design  process  much  more  visible 

•  Reduce  integration  problems  and  improve  software  reliability 

•  Incorporate  visible  outputs  into  the  software  development  cycle 

•  Achieve  significant  Increases  in  programmer  productivity 

You  should  attend  this  seminar  if  you  are  actively  engaged  in  the 
development  of  software  systems.  You  should  have  experience  in  the 
use  of  PL/ 1 .  FORTRAN.  COBOL,  or  an  ALGOL  like  language 

Cost  for  the  entire  seminar,  including  continental  breakfasts. 

Luncheons,  and  all  course  materials  is  only  $300.  Additional 

registrants  from  the  same  company  qualify  for  a  reduced  rate  of  $250-^*'*’^ 

Current  Schedule: 

New  York  ^  October  6-7^  ^  ^ 


June  25,  1975 


mCOMPUTERWORLD 


DPer  Gets  Grant  to  Make  Theft 
Impractical  Because  of  Expense 


IOWA  CITY,  Iowa  -  A  computer  scien¬ 
tist  here  has  received  a  grant  from  the 
National  Science  Foundation  (NSF)  to 
develop  a  computer  security  system  that 
will  make  the  act  of  stealing  so  expensive 
that  theft  will  become  impractical. 

University  of  Iowa  Prof.  John  Robinson 
described  his  cryptographic  system  as 
“not  merely  a  scrambling  technique,  but 
rather  a  redundant  privacy  transforma¬ 
tion  that  involves  more  bits  out  than  in.” 

The  technique  can  be  compared  to  mak¬ 
ing  a  computer  program  into  a  picture 
puzzle  and  then  adding  irrelevant  bits  of 
data,  he  explained. 

Robinson’s  technique  increases  the  cost 
of  stealing  in  two  ways:  first,  by  requiring 
the  intruder  to  have  a  thorough  knowl¬ 
edge  of  the  class  of  nonlinear  transfor¬ 
mations  used  in  the  program  and,  as  a 
second  line  of  defense,  forcing  the  in¬ 
truder  to  do  extra  computing  of  the  type 
one  might  encounter  in  decoding  an  er¬ 
ror-correcting  code,  Robinson  said. 

In  any  case,  Robinson  added,  it  would 
take  even  an  authorized  computer  opera- 


another?”  he  pointed  out. 

Robinson  is  designing  the  security  tech¬ 
nique  for  users  such  as  financial  institu¬ 
tions  and  other  organizations  with  propri¬ 
etary  information  about  key  customers, 
market  forecasts  and  new  products  on 
their  systems. 

Loss  of  such  information  could  cost  this 
class  of  user  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars,  he  explained. 

The  system  also  would  be  applicable  to 
Social  Security  files,  credit  bureaus  and 
other  systems  with  sensitive  information. 

Robinson  estimated  the  encryption 
technique  will  cost  users  1 0%  on  through¬ 
put,  but  “for  teleprocessing  systems,  en¬ 
cryption  is  about  your  only  choice,”  he 

The  grant  of  520,800  was  awarded  for 
one  year. 


AVAILABLE  FOR  LEASE 


370/168  or  370/165  w/DAT 
370/158  or  370/155  w/DAT 

These  systems  will  be  leased  directly 
through  CSA  and/or  come  from 
our  existing  portfolio. 

Contact  J.  Frolick 


Computer  Systems 
of  America,  Inc. 


computer  printout,  but  it  would  take 
even  longer  for  an  unauthorized  person 
because  he  would  have  to  determine  what 
data  was  for  the  program  and  what  infor¬ 
mation  was  for  deceptive  purposes. 

The  Only  Problem  . . . 


The  only  problem  Robinson  sees  now  is 
how  to  validate  exactly  how  good  the 
system  is,  he  said. 

“You  might  get  a  good  number  tied  to  a 
certain  level  of  security,  but  how  can  you 
say  one  system  is  twice  as  secure  as 

High  School  Students 


Get  Hookup  to  CPU 

BETHPAGE,  N.Y.  -  Computer  students 
at  Walt  Whitman  High  School  here  now 
have  a  hookup  with  Grumman  Data 
Systems  that  provides  them  free  access 
time  on  a  large  computer  system. 

The  system  provides  the  school  with  the 
capability  to  work  in  1 3  additional  com¬ 
puter  languages. 

In  exchange  for  access  time  on  the 
Dartmouth  Time-Share  System  (DTSS), 
the  students  have  been  asked  to  develop  a 
self-teaching  lesson  in  Fortran,  the  lan¬ 
guage  used  for  scientific  programming  in 
this  country. 

“One  of  the  DTSS  package  parts  is  a 
sequence  of  self-teaching  programs  that 
allows  students  to  sit  down  and  learn  to 
program  in  Basic,”  Doris  Stoudenmire, 
the  mathematics  teacher  at  Walt  Whitman 
who  heads  the  school’s  extensive  com¬ 
puter  program,  explained. 

“Now,  we  will  work  on  a  self-teaching 
package  in  Fortran  as  a  student  project.” 

The  science  department  at  Whitman 
High  uses  computer-assisted  instruction 
with  simulated  real-life  situations  in 
which  the  computer  investigates  problems 
instead  of  having  them  done  in  a  labora- 


“Our  objective,”  Stoudenmire  con¬ 
tinued,  “is  not  so  much  to  prepare  the 
students  for  jobs,  although  some  are 
headed  in  that  direction,  but  to  give  them 
a  skill  useful  in  today's  world  and  essen¬ 
tial  if  they  intend  to  do  any  work  at  all  in 
engineering  or  the  sciences.” 


'He’s  a  Data  Retreiver' 


The  beginning 
and  the  end  of  data 
communications 

A  special  supplement  anData  Communications  Terminals 
In  the  July  30th  Issue  of  Computerworld. 

All  data  communications  start  and  finish  with  data  communications 
terminals.  And  you’ll  be  reading  all  about  them  in  our  July  30th 
supplement.  Edited  by  Ron  Frank,  this  supplement  will  take  an  in- 
depth  look  at  data  communications  terminals  and  their  effective 
use  in  data  networks.  You’ll  see  applications  stories,  tutorials  and 
comprehensive  articles  on  topics  like  these: 

•  Batch  vs.  On-Line 

•  The  Man-Machine  Interface 

•  The  right  terminal  for  the  right  application 

If  you  have  anything  to  do  with  data  communications,  you  should 
be  reading  this  supplement  from  start  to  finish.  And  if  you’re 
marketing  goods  or  services  In  this  field,  your  ad  should  be 
there.  Ad  closing  is  July  1 1th.  Contact  the  Computerworld 
salesman  in  your  area  for  details,  or  call  Judy  Milford  or  Sara  Steets 
at  (617)  965-5800. 


ms  Computerworld 


National  Sale.  Office 

Neal  Wilder 
Dottle  Travis 
(617)  965  5800 


Boston 

Bob  Ziegel 
Mike  Burman 
(617)  965-5800 


New  York 


Frank  Gsllo 
(201)  461  2575 


San  Francisco 
Bill  Healey 

(415)  495-0990 


Page  33 
June  25,  1975 
Computerworld 


Cl  Notes 


IBM  Calls  OH  Mealet  lay 


2  COMPUTER  INDUSTRY 


Although  SNA  Presents  Hurdl 


J  Terminal  Mart  to  Gain  16%  Yearly:  ADL 

f  By  Molly  Upton  billion  in  1975.  “One  can  go  beyond  SNA,  currently  ft 

of  the  cw  staff  But  terminal  suppliers  will  not  retain  concept,  to  see  that  IBM  or  anyone  else 

off  CAMBRIDGE,  Mass.  -  A  recent  report  their  current  share  of  the  pie,  although  putting  forth  that  same  kind  of  theory 
Inc.  on  terminals  from  Arthur  D.  Little,  Inc.  shipments  will  continue  to  grow.  can  say,  ‘Only  our  hardware  can  execute 


loss  of  $2.2  million  compared  with  the  doubling  by  1980.  system,”  Roy  M.  Salzman,  head  of  ADL's  he  said. 

preliminary  $771,000  loss.  Revenues  Shipments  of  terminals  will  reach  nearly  information  system  planning  services,  “There  will  be  a  good  deal  of  jockeying 

were  revised  downward  to  $3.3  million  $3  billion  annually  in  1 980,  up  from  $  1 .3  said.  for  competitive  advantage  and  some  of 

from  $3.7  million.  the  weaker  independents  are  headed  for 

The  revision  gives  effect  to  write-downs  IklwrF  DriBBMl*  Al  aIuj  1 1  _  trouble,”  he  added, 

of  inventory,  creation  of  reserves  and  K  I  JL  DTIIlUS  I  ICRCl  K  w  I  Inf  0 1  R  UD  “Independent  producers  will  have  to 

other  year-end  adjustments.  Neotec  said.  ™  ■  assess  their  alternatives  and  develop  speci- 

Neotec  acknowledged  it  has  a  substan-  a  #_  m •  |  _  mm  _■  ■  V  ■  fic  market  strategies  to  survive  the  ’70s,” 

tial  working  capital  deficit  and  plans  to  A  VTOI’  P  |(|I|VH HR  Alt  fit  V 1 1  Af  I  OCT  Salzman  observed, 

meet  soon  with  major  creditors  to  con-  ■  ■  W  ■  ■VBWIIIII  ■  IIWI  B  w  w  I  “Knowledge  of  customer  applications 

aider  refinancing,  sales  of  certain  assets  _  -  f  h  r  and  new  sof,ware  s^tlls,  as  well  as  micro- 


Univac  Orders  Calcomp  8440s  Sore  than  2,000  NYSE-listed  comm 

ANAHEIM,  Calif.  -  Univac  has  ordered  and  preferred  stocks,  long-term  warrar 
$2  million  worth  of  Model  8440  disk  rights  and  preferred  stocks  are  now  be 
drives  from  California  Computer  Prod-  reported  on  Tape  A  daily  from  10  a. 


ucts,  Inc.  (Calcomp). 

Deliveries  of  the  1 1 6M-byte  drive! 
scheduled  for  this  summer. 


regulatory  reasons  and  trading  in  ths 
security  continues  elsewhere,  report 
from  markets  still  trading  will  not  t 
displayed  on  the  tape  as  they  occu 


ading  floor  for  Hopefully,  the  collision  course  « 


ling  hours  for  the  NYSE.  Instead,  they 


re  stored  and  displayed 
■  market  closes. 
don  Page  35) 


‘her  routes  by  which  suppliers  may 
mpt  to  avert  the  SNA  hurdle  and 
ending  threat  of  lockout  include  go¬ 
off-line  to  the  turnkey  small  business 
em  area  and  specializing  in  products 
gned  for  specific  industries,  he  said. 


Can  our  single  source  computer  service 
be  cost-effective  and  price  competitive? 

A  olr  rvi  1 W  Be,,er  s,ill‘ ask  ,he  companies  that  are  Raytheon  Service  C 

IJII I  (111  I  IIJcMIill  V  ,hem  and  we  tan  Prove  " to  y°u :  M  i*ed  vendor  system  set 
s-rv  price  competitive...  with  any  type  of  competitor.  Here's  wl 


Better  still,  ask  the  companies  that  are  Raytheon  Service  Company  customers.  We  proved  it  to 
them  and  we  can  prove  it  to  you:  Mixed  vendor  system  service  by  RSC  is  both  cost-effective  and 
price  competitive . . .  with  any  type  of  competitor.  Here's  why: 

RSC  service  representatives  have  solid  training  and  field  experience  with  360. 370  and  other 
mainframes.  And  equal  experience  with  a  wide  range  of  peripherals,  minicomputers  and  com¬ 
munications  terminal  networks.  That  means  an  RSC  service  rep  can  handle  the  problem  the  first 
time.  He  doesn’t  waste  time  waiting  for  the  expert.  He's  the  first  team.  Thul's  what  makes  our 
prices  lower- and  your  service  contract  more  cost-effective. 

There’s  a  growing  lineup  of  industrials,  international  airlines,  government  ugencies  and  others 
who  were  convinced  by  the  facts,  figures  and  performance.  They're  all 
Raytheon  Service  Company  customers.  Ask  them  why.  We’ll  tell  you  who 
they  are  when  you  get  the  full  story  from  us.  Call  Mike  Sailer.  Commercial  IRAYTH  EON  J 
Marketing  Manager.  Raytheon  Service  Company.  1 2  Second  Avenue, 

Burlington.  Mass.  0 1 803,  (61 7)  272-9300. 


Page  34 _ H3  COIWTOWOULD _  _ June  25, 1975 

SDS  Confident  of  Profitability  os  Bookings  Increose 


By  Molly  Upton 
Ot  the  CW  Staff 

NASHUA,  N.H.  -  Sanders  Data  Sys¬ 
tems,  Inc.  (SDS)  is  moving  in  the  right 
direction  toward  profitability,  according 
to  Joel  Kosheff,  vice-president  of  finance 
for  parent  Sanders  Associates,  Inc. 

“We’re  bullish,”  said  John  Nisbet,  vice- 
president  of  marketing  for  SDS.  “We’re 
quite  confident  we  can  meet  our  goal  of 
$13  million  in  international  bookings  and 
$36  million  to  $37  million  in  domestic 
bookings  in  1976.” 

Nisbet  said  he  is  confident  SDS  will 
cross  the  line  into  profitability  in  the 
coming  year. 

Bookings  have  been  increasing  on  a 
monthly  basis,  he  said,  noting  the  first 
week  of  June  brought  in  $2  million  in 
orders  compared  with  $3  million  for  all 
of  May.  This  rate  is  well  ahead  of  plan  for 
the  end  of  the  year,  according  to  Paul 
McNamara,  SDS  national  sales  manager. 


SDS’  customer  base  has  been  growing, 
Nisbet  said.  “Over  the  past  three  years, 
we  have  literally  tived  off  that  loyal  cus¬ 
tomer  base”  with  add-ons,  enhancements, 
etc.  Within  the  last  month,  however, 
there  were  10  new  customers  out  of  18 

“An  amazing  number  of  new  accounts 
are  on  long-term  leases,  and  that’s  the 
type  of  business  we  want,”  he  added. 

Many  of  SDS’  8170s  installed  currently 
are  single  systems  for  comparison,  and 
thus  may  represent  large  market  poten¬ 
tial,  McNamara  said. 

Most  of  SDS  activities  are  million-dollar 
opportunities  with  enhancements,  he 
added,  and  salesmen  currently  average  $1 
million  a  year  in  sales. 

Progress  Being  Made 

SDS’  six-month  revenues  for  the  period 
ended  Jan.  31  rose  to  $14.5  million  com¬ 
pared  with  $10.1  million  in  the  year-ago 


period,  which  Kosheff  attributed  in  part 
to  a  higher  proportion  of  sales  to  leases. 

The  loss  for  the  division  stood  at  $3.2 
million  compared  with  a  loss  of  $2  mil¬ 
lion  last  year.  However,  on  a  pro  forma 
basis,  the  loss  last  year  was  $5.1  million 
because  of  a  change  in  accounting  and  a 
write-off  of  $19.2  million  taken  by  the 
parent  firm,  he  said. 

The  write-off  occurred  when,  as  a  reac¬ 
tion  to  IBM’s  refusal  to  support 
2260-type  equipment,  Sanders  customers 
returned  much  of  the  installed  lease  base. 

Until  that  time,  Kosheff  said,  the  lease 
return  was  very  nominal.  In  the  seventh 
year  of  the  product  line,  he  said,  demand 
for  Sanders’  units  was  in  excess  of  re¬ 
turns,  and  the  firm  was  still  manufactur¬ 
ing  new  units. 

McNamara  said  he  expects  $24  million 
in  U.S.  bookings  this  fiscal  year  and 
expects  somewhat  under  $40  million  in 
1976  bookings.  Over  150  of  the  8170 


systems  have  been  installed  in  the  past 
nine  months. 

In  1976  SDS  plans  to  open  five  new 
sales  offices,  increasing  its  total  field  mar¬ 
keting  staff  to  125  from  the  current  90. 

About  50%  of  those  1976  bookings  will 
be  in  purchase  or  long-term  lease-pur¬ 
chase  equivalents,  he  said. 

Nesbit  explained  the  recent  marketing 
reorganization  as  a  part  of  a  thrust  to 
become  more  marketing-oriented.  In  the 
move,  Sanders  placed  its  domestic  and 
international  marketing  staff  under  one 
group,  along  with  marketing  support  and 
customer  service. 

Sanders  sees  marketing  as  a  matter  of 
support,  he  said. 

International  Scope  Necessary 

On  the  international  scene,  Geoffrey 
Meadowcroft,  recently  named  vice-presi¬ 
dent  of  international  operations,  said  the 
Sanders  product  line  fits  in  with  the 
needs  of  multinational  companies,  neces¬ 
sitating  the  international  scope  of  the 

Orders  are  frequently  generated  by  a 
U.S  .-based  firm  installing  Sanders  equip¬ 
ment  abroad  as  well  as  at  home,  and 
sometimes  the  situation  reverses,  he  said. 

Meadowcroft  said  his  personal  objective 
is  to  make  the  international  business  sec¬ 
tor  of  SDS  as  big  as  the  domestic  one  in 
three  to  five  years. 

In  fiscal  1976,  he  is  aiming  for  $13.5 


Key  enter 

OCR  and  MICR  rejects 
while  scanning . . . 


No  document  to  study.  No  field  to  search. 
As  the  4400  System  scanner  encounters  a 
document  with  a  non-machine  readable 
character,  the  video  image  of  that 
character,  and  only  that  character  Is 
displayed  at  the  CRT/keystation.  The 
operator  merely  keys  whatever 
characteris)  is  displayed,  instantly 
correcting  and  releasing  the  record  as  the 
document  passes  through  the  scanner. 
This  Video  Correct  mode  of  operation 
mts  all  but  a  few  documents  from  . 


as  simply  as  this! 


prevents  all  but  a  few  documents  from  . 
being  rejected  and  eliminates  the  costly 
re-entry  procedures  that  have  long 
MICR 


plagued  OCR  and  particularly  Ml 


data  from  rejected  documents.  Just  as  in 
Video  Correct,  there's  never  a  need  to  key 
scanned  data.  Key  Correct  only  those 
characters  depicted  by  question  mark  and 


Send  for  our  new  literature  today! 


•  MICR/OCR  compare  feature — 
dual  read  system  for  cross-check  scanning 
of  MICR  documents  reduces  rejects  and 


•  SK1L— comprehensive  Scan  Key 
Input  Language  for  any  keying  and 
scanning  application.  An  RPG  D  compiler 
is  available  for  report  generation  and 
specialized  applications 

Let  us  show  you  how  the  4400 
System  has  solved  reject  re-entry 
problems  for  banks  insurance,  retail, 
manufacturing,  and  utility  companies 
Our  new  literature  describes  how  the 
‘  “  with  its 


_ tsKguScan  System  wi 

powerful  4400  Processor  has  the 
hardware,  software,  and  systems 
flexibility  to  meet  your  data  entry  needs 
off-line  at  the  lowest  possible  cost.  Send 


for  It  today!  Write:  Cummins- Allison 
CorPjSOO  Waukegan  Road,  Glenview, 


ICUMMINS 

I  CUMMINS-ALLISON  CORP. 


customer  service.  Field  service  and  staff 
are  the  remaining  two  categories. 

SDS  has  increased  its  research  and  devel¬ 
opment  expenditures  this  year  over  last, 
and  the  portion  allocated  to  software  is 
larger  than  hardware,  Nisbet  said. 

Sanders  wants  to  be  known  as  being  in 
the  systems  business  rather  than  simply  a 
terminal  supplier,  Jerome  Carp,  manager 
of  market  support,  said. 

Carroll  said  there  are  currently  6,000  of 
its  700  series  units  shipped,  of  which 
3,500  are  on  lease  or  under  maintenance 
contract  in  the  U.S. 

In  the  U.S.,  Sanders  has  about  1,400 
than  12,000 


field,  he  added. 

SDS  has  cut  its  employment  from  be¬ 
tween  1 ,200  and  1 ,300  a  year  or  so  ago 
to  just  under  900,  Carroll  said. 

Manufacturing,  currently  with  half  the 
number  of  people,  is  twice  as  productive 
as  a  few  yean  ago,  he  said. 


June  25,  1975 


^COMPUTER WORLD 


FASB  Puts  Limits  on  Deferrals 
Of  Development-Stage  Firms 


STAMFORD,  Conn.  -  Enterprises 
the  development  stage  will  be  required 
follow  the  same  accounting  principles 
established  firms,  according  to  Statement 
No.  7  issued  by  the  Financial  Accoui  ' 
Standards  Board  (FASB),  a  group 
sets  accounting  principles. 

Prior  to  this  latest  ruling,  which  is  effec¬ 

tive  for  fiscal  periods  beginning  on  or 
after  Jan.  1,  1976,  with  earlier  applica¬ 
tion  encouraged,  firms  in  the  develop¬ 
ment  stage  had  been  permitted  to  defer 
all  types  of  costs  without  regard  to  their 

recoverability. 

A  development-stage  firm  is  defined  by 

the  FASB  as  one  that  devotes  substan¬ 

tially  all  of  its  efforts  to  establishing  a 
new  business  and  either  has  not  begun  its 
planned  principal  operations  or  has 
started  such  operations,  but  has  not  had 
significant  revenues  from  them. 

Generally  accepted  accounting  prin¬ 
ciples  that  apply  to  established  operating 
enterprises  will  govern  the  recognition  of 
revenue  by  a  development-stage  enter¬ 
prise  and  determine  whether  a  cost  in- 

NYSE  Brings  Net  Up 

(Continued  from  Page  33) 
ing  in  a  particular  security  is  halted  or  its 
opening  is  delayed  on  the  NYSE  floor, 
reports  from  other  markets  will  continue 
to  be  displayed  on  the  tape. 

Reports  from  other  markets  will  also  be 
displayed  if  the  NYSE  trading  floor  is 
forced  to  close  because  of  a  local  problem 
such  as  a  transit  strike  or  a  snowfall  that 
may  not  affect  Siac  24-hour  computer 
operation. 

The  Consolidated  Tape  is  being  gener¬ 
ated  by  Siac’s  dual-IBM  360/50  system 
with  1 M  byte  of  core. 

CPUs  in  the  regional  exchanges  feed 
data  into  the  central  computer  system  via 
2,400  bit/sec  full-duplex  data  circuits. 

Exchanges  with  less  sophisticated  equip¬ 
ment  will  access  the  central  computer  via 
a  stand-alone  IBM  3275  or  compatible 
terminal. 


cuiTed  is  to  be  charged  to  expense  when 
incurred  or  is  to  be  capitalized  or  defer¬ 
red,  the  board  said. 

Development-stage  enterprises  will  be 
required  to  disclose  additional  informa¬ 
tion,  with  the  income  statement  and 
statement  of  changes  in  financial  position 
showing  cumulative  amounts  from  the 

founding  of  the  company  as  well  as 

amounts  for  each  period  covered  by  state- 

In  addition,  the  statement  of  stock¬ 

holders’  equity  must  provide  specified 
disclosures  about  each  issuance  of  equity 
securities. 

Financial  statements  will  be  identified 
as  those  of  a  development-stage  enterprise 
and  include  a  description  of  the  nature  of 
the  development-stage  activities  in  which 
the  enterprise  is  involved. 


Intel  Fields  Own  Force 


SUNNYVALE,  Calif.  -  In  its  first 
step  into  the  end-user  market,  Intel 
Corp.  is  selling  its  IBM  370  add-on 
memories  through  its  own  sales  force, 
according  to  Richard  Egan,  assistant 
general  manager  of  Intel’s  Memory 
Systems  Division. 

The  firm  is  continuing  to  supply 
memories  to  Computer  Investors 
Group,  Inc.  and  Itel  Corp.,  he  said. 

By  fielding  a  force  of  1 0  salesmen  in 
eight  cities,  Intel  hopes  to  gain  on-site 

feedback  on  possible  new  product 


“We  are  building  a  large  IBM  business 
which  represents  a  significant  area  of 
growth  for  the  division,”  he  said.  “We 


better  control  our  market  and  our 

Intel  makes  semiconductor  memories 
up  to  5I2K  for  the  370/135,  up  to  2M 
bytes  for  the  145  and  up  to  8M  bytes 
for  the  158,  which  uses  a  4K  chip,  he 
said.  A  larger  memory  for  the  135  is 
seen  as  the  next  new  product. 

Intel  also  makes  a  memory  for  the 
155,  but  that  is  in  limited  production 
he  said. 

Maintenance  will  be  provided  by  In¬ 

tel’s  own  technical  support  and  third- 
party  maintenance  organizations,  Egan 

The  Intel  division  also  makes  OEM 

memories  for  a  number  of  computer 

terminal  suppliers  in 


need  marketing  forecasts  in  order  to  both  the  U.S.  and  Europe,  he  sa 


From., 

pencils 


I  Our  scanner  reads 
hand-print,  ma¬ 
chine-print,  ordinary  pencil  marks.  And 
can  rent  for  as  little  as  $350  a  monthl 
Write  today  to  the  company  that's 
developed  a  whole  new  concept  in  com¬ 
puter  input.  Optical  Scanning  Corpo¬ 
ration/Nationwide  sales  and  service/ 
World  leader  in  scanner  installations/For 
further  information  write  or  call  collect. 
Optical  Scanning  Corporation 
Box  20  Newtown,  PA  18940 
(215)  968-461 


. _jtol 

computer 


j  Contact  Susan  Lerner 

I  Optical  Scanning  Corporation 

j  Box  20  Newtown,  PA  18940 

j  □  Additional  facts  and  figures 
sales  representative 

!  Title 


The  least  RAN*S0RT  will  do 
is  20%  better 
than  you’re  doing  now 

A  recent  independent  poll  of  IBM  360/370  shops  has  shown  that  on  an  average,  20%  of  all 
machine  time  is  spent  sorting.  If  we  can  cut  that,  even  by  just  a  few  points,  we  will  be  saving 
you  time,  money  and  operator  aggravation. 

PAN*SORT  Version  3.0  is  new  this  month;  and  it  is  the  productivity  tool  that  will  save  you 
man-weeks  of  labor  and  will  cost-justify  itself  in  mere  months.  In  the  year  that  PAN*SORT  has 
been  marketed  in  the  United  States,  over  200  evaluations  have  yielded  average  savings  of: 

♦  Increased  total  throughput  of  20% 

♦  CPU  time  savings  of  20% 

♦  Reduction  in  disk  space  required  by  30% 

♦  Reduction  in  I/O  activity  by  50% 

PAN*SORT  Version  3.0  works  on  any  version  of  DOS  or  OS.  and  occupies  only  12K  resident 
core.  The  system  now  sports  an  optimized  checkpoint/Restart  and  supports  all  exits  to  IBM 
sorts,  including  E-61  and  E-32.  And  PAN*SORT  is  still  available  with  Access  Method  Program¬ 
ming  in  the  AM  OPTION,  for  doing  multiple  concurrent  sorts  in  a  single  pass  of  the  input  file. 
Installation  requires  no  JCL  changes  and  is  done  with  no  disruption  of  daily  activity. 
Productivity  depends  on  your  sorting  ability.  Why  not  see  how  you  can  improve  both  today? 


■e  about  PAN*SORT 


Pansophir  Systems.  Inc. 
1301  W.  22nd  St 
Oak  Brook.  III.  60521 


MNS0PHIC 
SYSTEMS, INC 


East  201/622-0190 
Central  312/325-6512 
West  213/430-7551 


^Computer  world 


In  DECs  Quest  for  Market 


25. 1975 


Page  37 


MSP  Sees  U.S.  os  Prime  Market 


NEWTON,  Mass.  -  The  North  creasingly  grey. 
American  market  is  too  big  and  Of  an  estimat< 
too  well-educated  to  ignore,  ac-  current  prospei 
cording  to  David  Gomes  da  data  dictionary 
Costa,  managing  director  of  da  Costa  said  hi 


SIXTH  ANNUAL  SEMINAR 


Of  an  estimated  2,000  or  3,000  creasingly  marketing-oriented 
current  prospects  worldwide  for  and  moving  away  from  the  body-  For 

t^SSL'SStSSS  ST  JSSS-  “"SSS  directors  of  academic  computing  services 


iment  Systems  and  Pro-  if  MSP  could  get  1 5%  in  the  ni 


means  an  easier  sale  for  the  firm  Auggst  18.21  1976 
and  making  the  product  easy  for 
the  customer  to  use. 


jst  18-21,  1975  Snowmass,  Colorado 

This  Year's  Theme: 

COMPUTING  IN  A  CHANGING  ECONOMY" 


Gomes  da  Costa  is  searching  lay  on  investment  return  from  a 
for  distributors  and  investigating  package,  he  noted,  and  most 
licensing  arrangements,  he  said.  British  firms  seem  to  be  either 
The  systems  software  market  “between  a  peak  and  trough  of 
on  the  international  scene  will  work,"  and  therefore  aren’t  sure 
probably  be  more  profitable  about  making  the  investment,  or 
than  applications  in  a  few  years,  are  in  the  trough  and  don’t  have 
he  said,  as  the  need  for  system  the  capital  or  are  too  busy, 
portability  expands.  MSP  received  a  grant  from  the 

Although  the  applications  area  National  Computing  Center  to 
will  grow  significantly.  Gomes  aid  in  development  of  Dataman- 


■year  de-  except  1971,  he  said.  It  started 
l  from  a  out  building  test  tools  for  IBM  ■ 
id  most  operating  systems  for  internal 


In  1971  it  came  out  with  an 
upgraded  module  testing  system, 
of  which  it  has  sold  130  copies 
in  16  countries.  One  of  the  cus¬ 
tomers  is  Hitachi,  which  he  sus¬ 
pects  is  providing  the  unit  on  its 


more  profitable.  gives  the  user  onl 

However,  he  cautioned,  the  what  he  wants  i 
line  between  applications  and  above  the  price  i 
systems  packages  will  become  in-  obtain  a  package. 


Currently  MSP  is  planning  to 
d  custom  software  develop  a  portable  minicom- 
only  about  55%  of  puter  Cobol  compiler  to  facili- 
ts  at  30%  to  40%  tate  the  transfer  of  applications 
:e  it  would  cost  to  programs  from  minis  to  larger 
ige.  mainframes. 


UK  Software  Houses  Seek  'Colonies’ 


By  Edith  Holmes  From  May  2S  to  June  6,  direc- 

ot  the  cw  suit  tors  of  these  companies  visited 

NEW  YORK -The  British  manufacturers  of  systems,  soft- 
came  here  last  week  in  the  form  ware  houses  and  user  companies 
of  seven  software  houses  looking  in  Washington,  D.C.,  Los  An- 
to  establish  “colonies”  in  the  geles,  San  Francisco  and  New 
U.S.  market.  York. 

The  firms  were  participants  in  The  firms,  whose  products 
a  tour  sponsored  by  the  British  cover  personnel  and  payroll. 
Overseas  Trade  Board  and  the  freight  forwarding,  commercial 
Computing  Services  Association,  real-time  systems,  high-level  lan- 
whose  membership  covers  about  guages  and  productivity  consult- 
75%  of  the  British  computer  ing,  sent  representatives  on  this 
software  and  services  industry,  tour  because  they  believe  the 

Cepa  Head  Urges  National  Center 
To  Coordinate  Software  Efforts 

DALLAS  -  “Substantial  sav-  “Data  also  shows  that,  of  the 
ings  could  be  realized  annually  if  263,000  civil  engineering  and 
a  national  center  were  estab-  architectural  professionals  in  the 
fished  to  coordinate  devel-  U.S.,  an  estimated  90%  still  have 
opment,  dissemination  and  use  a  major  unfulfilled  need  for 
of  software,”  said  J.  Crazier  computer  software,”  Brown  con- 
Brown,  president  of  Civil  Engi-  eluded. 

neering  Program  Applications.  - 

Crazier  made  the  statement 
following  a  two-year  research 
project  which  found  that,  in  fis¬ 
cal  1974,  the  Federal  Govern¬ 
ment  spent  more  than  S21  bil¬ 
lion  for  civil  engineering  and 
computer-related  activities. 

Computer  programs  or  soft¬ 
ware,  approximating  5260  mil¬ 
lion,  have  been  developed  and 
identified  as  used  in  support  of  ■ 

these  expenditures. 

Four  major  problem  areas  were  ** 

indicated  by  the  study. 

First,  no  standards  exist  for  the 


tion  of  engineering  applications 
software.  Brown  said,  and  opti¬ 
mum  use  of  existing  resources  is 
not  being  made. 

In  addition,  there  is  “no  single 
professionally  based  contact 
point  available  to  present  or  po¬ 
tential  users  of  the  computers  or 
software,”  he  noted. 

Finally,  the  study  said  the  full 
range  of  computer-oriented  edu¬ 
cational  resources  is  not  avail- 


U.S.  economy  is  on  the  upturn. 

Stewart  Ashton,  head  of  the 
group  of  directors  and  represen¬ 
tative  of  Systems  Designers, 
Ltd.,  also  said  the  companies 


“The  UK’s  computer  industry 
has  developed  differently  from 
that  in  the  U.S.,”  he  stated. 
“The  U.S.  seems  to  have  been 
oriented  toward  larger  equip¬ 
ment,  while  the  UK  has  devel¬ 
oped  smaller  systems  requiring 
smaller  scale  software.” 

He  maintained  the  British  soft¬ 
ware  houses  have  devised  gener¬ 
ally  more  compact  and  higher 
quality  products  than  those  mar¬ 
keted  in  the  U.S.  as  a  result. 

“We  expect  the  previous  pre¬ 
ference  for  tailored  software  in 
the  U.S.  will  change,  given  our 
ability  to  cut  development  costs 
by  60%  with  packages.” 


the  computer  field  and  have  a  good  working  knowledge  of  RPG II. 
you  have  a  very  saleable  talent.  All  you  need  to  turn  that  talent  into 
a  successful  turnkey  operation  is  a  very  saleable  small  business 
system.  And  we  have  it.  The  GRI  System  99. 

System  99  is  a  minicomputer-based  multi-user  business  sys¬ 
tem  supporting  Interactive  RPG  II.  It  comes  with  a  GRI  99/50 
computer,  disk,  printer,  and  video  terminal(s).  It  also  comes  fully 
software  loaded  and  ready  to  program.  And  it's  very  competitively 
priced.  With  no  trouble  whatsoever,  we  can  also  configure  the 
System  99  with  other  peripherals— including  80-  and  96-column 
card  equipment  and  magnetic  tape — for  both  on-line  interactive 
data  entry  and  batch  processing. 

The  business  opportunities  for  a  GRI  distributor  are  almost 
unlimited.  Unfortunately  the  number  of  distributorships  available 
are  not.  Let  us  know  your  qualifications  by  writing  to:  Director  of 
Sales.  GRI  Computer  Corporation,  320  Needham  Street.  Newton, 


Ol 

GRI  Com  pi 


M  id  Id  U  M 


At  $1495  and  31  pounds,  RtrtaCom  is  easy  to  take. 

And  that  goes  for  our  terminal’s  ASCII  purchases  aren’t  hard  to  take  either.  Just 
keyboard,  separate  numeric  key  pad,  pick  up  the  phone  and  call  Dick  Samose 
RS232  connector,  built-in  acoustic  cou-  collect  at  (203)  3254161  today  and  get 
pier,  an  impact  printer  that  uses  standard  all  the  details,  including  our  brochure, 
paper,  switch-selectable  parity  and  full  or  Dataproducts  Corporation,  17  Amelia 
half  duplex.  Our  discounts  on  quantity  Place,  Stamford,  Connecticut  06904. 

c/^Dataproducts  FbrtaCom.Easy  to  take. 


June  25,  1975 


^COMPUTER  WORLD 


Xerox  Closest  Competitor 


IBM  Tops  DP  Makers  in  Fortune  500  Listing 


NEWTON,  Mass.  -  Not 
prisingly,  IBM  came  out  w; 
front  of  all  other  computer 


spectively,  all  down  12  to  14  second  in  net  income  and  third  Five  companies,  the  magazine 
places  from  last  year.  for  stockholders’ equity.  noted,  including  Addressograph- 

NCR  placed  at  97,  down  11  This  variance  in  ranking  be-  Multigraph,  Litton,  Lockheed, 


“You  need  good 
EDP  personnel 
more  than  you  ever 
needed  them  before.” 

The  next  time  you  need  a 
competent  programmer,  systems 
analyst,  data  processing  manager, 
or  other  EDP  personnel,  call  a 
Robert  Half  specialist. 


Works  has  selected  IBM  to  sup¬ 
ply  10  System/7s  for  process 
control  in  its  foundry  and  a 
370/158  for  management  report¬ 
ing. 

The  order  for  the  IBM  equip¬ 
ment  has  been  passed  by  the 
U.S.  Department  of  Commerce 
to  the  North  Atlantic  Treaty  Or¬ 
ganization  (Nato)  Coordinating 
Committee  for  approval  fCW, 
April  »/. 

The  following  article  details 
plans  for  the  IBM  equipment  as 
well  as  other  makers'  units. 

Novosti  Press  Agency 

KAMA  RIVER^  USSR  -  An 
automated  management  system 
(AMS)  linking  nine  subsystems 
designed  to  handle  about  300 
tasks  forms  an  integral  part  of 
the  mammoth  Kama  Auto 
Works  (Kamaz). 

The  complex  of  plants  here 
will  have  the  capacity  to  pro¬ 
duce  1 50,000  cars  and  250,000 
diesel  engines  a  year  -  one  auto¬ 
mobile  every  1 .6  minutes  and 
one  engine  every  minute. 

The  hierarchy  of  computer 
systems  will  cover  jobs  from 


evolved  at  the  same  time  the 
plant  is  being  designed.  This  ap¬ 
proach  creates  certain  difficul¬ 
ties  and  imposes  time  limits.  But 
it  also  has  an  advantage:  The 
first  stage  of  the  system  will  go 
into  operation  simultaneously 
with  the  works. 

This  project  is  one  of  the  early 
attempts  here  to  build  up  a  co¬ 
herent  DP  system  for  the  solu¬ 
tion  of  a  large  number  of  related 
problems. 

All  design,  performance  and 
technoeconomic  characteristics 
have  been  brought  together  in  a 
system  with  a  definite  structure 
which  should  permit  an  inte¬ 
grated,  speedy  system. 


Two  third-generation  com¬ 
puters  installed  in  the  general 
management  office  will  have  in¬ 
teractive  capability  to  provide 
information  on  the  economic, 
production  and  technical  per¬ 
formance  of  the  works. 

These  machines,  which  will 
serve  as  backup  for  each  other, 
will  tackle  comprehensive  prob¬ 
lems  such  as  planning  output  of 


for  them. 

Smaller,  controlling  computers 
will  be  used  for  the  management 
of  production,  control  of  the 
transportation  of  materials  and 
production  processes. 

These  computers  operate  in 
real  time  and  will  control  opera¬ 
tion  of  conveyors,  depots  and 
other  production  objects. 

From  the  moment  a  truck 
frame  enters  the  production  line, 
the  controlling  computer  will 
monitor  its  progress  up  to  the 
stage  of  marketing. 

The  CPU  must  be  reliable, 
quick  and  interactive.  It  also 
must  maintain  constant  contact 
with  the  bigger  computers  which 
process  data  on  a  higher  level. 

Aussies  Mixing 
DP  Generations 

SYDNEY,  Aust.  -  Australians 
seem  to  be  well  into  fourth- 
generation  equipment,  but  still 
in  the  second  generation  of 
systems,  according  to  a  report 
from  the  U.S.  Department  of 


UK  Drug  Firm 
Gats  First  64/20 

MORETON,  England -The 
first  delivery  of  a  Honeywell 
Series  60  Level  64  computer  was 
made  to  E.R.  Squibb  and  Sons 
Ltd.,  the  UK  subsidiary  of  the 
American  pharmaceutical  com¬ 
pany. 

The  medium-scale  64/20  sys¬ 
tem,  valued  at  about  $480,000, 
was  developed  and  manufac¬ 
tured  in  France.  The  system  was 
installed  and  accepted  seven 
days  after  delivery,  Honeywell 

The  64/20  is  now  running  all 
of  the  company’s  production 
work  including  order  processing, 
accounts  payable  and  receivable, 
a  general  ledger/budget  control 
system,  inventory  control  and 
various  small  jobs  for  production 
departments. 

The  applications  software 


POSITION  dNNOUNC€M€NTS 


SENIOR 

SYSTEMS 

ANALYSTS 


A  large  Boston-based  insurance  and  financial  service  orga¬ 
nization  seeks  experienced  systems  professionals  to  perform 
systems  analysis  and  direct  the  efforts  of  a  small  group  of 
programmers. 

These  positions  require  a  minimum  of  3-5  years  of  program¬ 
ming  and  systems  analysis  experience  in  a  large,  sophisti¬ 
cated  IBM  environment.  A  knowledge  of  COBOL  and  the 
ability  to  supervise  programmers  are  essential.  One  of  these 
positions  requires  several  years  experience  in  homeowners 
insurance  policywriting  applications. 

We  offer  excellent  starting  salaries  and  a  competitive  bene¬ 
fit  package.  Please  send  resume  including  salary  require¬ 
ments  in  complete  confidence  to: 

CW  Box  4391 
797  Washington  St. 

Newton,  Mass.  02160 


Why  ignore  the  world's 
largest  employer  of  EDP  per¬ 
sonnel?  Precise  recommenda¬ 
tions  for  securing  jobs  with 
the  Federal  Government,  all 
drill  levels.  Extensive  advice, 
red  tape  explained.  Over 


TP  SYSTEMS 
PROGRAMMER 


Page  40 


mcwHimmu 


June  IS.  1973 


IMS? 
COBOL? 
East  Coast 
&  Detroit. 


If  you  are  a  programmer  or  programmer/ analyst  with 
2-5  years  experience  in  commercial  applications  of  IMS, 
COBOL,  CICS  or  DL/1 ,  Keane  would  like  to  talk  with  you. 
We  have  openings  in  our  Boston,  Hartford.  Westport, 

New  York  City,  Northern  New  Jersey,  Philadelphia  and 
Detroit  offices. 

Keane  is  one  of  the  nation's  largest  applications  systems 
developers,  with  a  client  base  in  excess  of  300  companies 
Our  working  environment  and  salary,  benefit  and 
professional  growth  programs  are  the  best  in  the  industry. 
Send  your  resume  to  Barbara  Kenyon  at  our  home  office. 

Keane:  The  software 
professional’s  career  path. 


mcMmawnu 


IBM  029-B12 
IBM  029-B22 


ncomnotwoRiA 


WE  HAVE  A  NEED! 

FOR  370/135,  145  AND  158  CPU’S 
And  two  each  360/65's  &  50’s 

If  you  have  considered  selling  yours,  we’re  paying 
today's  top  dollar! 

For  details  contact: 

Mort  Crandall 

CIG  (Computer  Investors  Group,  Inc.) 

1351  Washington  Blvd.,  Stamford,  Conn.  06902 
Tel:  (203)  359-2100 


I  I  \SI  \\\  \  'I  I  I 

360/370 

COMPUTER  WHOLESALE  CORP 


TM11/TU10 

RP11/RP03 

C  A  A  T  C  0  • 
ENTERPRISES 
TIM  COX 
405  235-5691 


FOR  SALE 

5445's 


GET  IT  TOGETHER 

SOFTWARE  SUPPORT  WITH  YOUR  COMPUTER 
LEASE  FROM  THE  WORLD'S  LEADING 
INDEPENDENT  SOFTWARE  COMPANY. 

ALL  AVAI LABLE  IMMEDIATELY  WITH  I/O  SET: 
•  360/40H  •  360/40G  *2365$  *2361-1 


IBM  1401 
WITH  1311  DISK 


1130 

1401 


OPPORTUNITY  KNOCKS  EVERYDAY 
WHEN  YOU  CONTACT 


LEASING  -  SELLING  -  BUYING  -  TRADING 

IBM  COMPUTER  -  1401-360-370  ALL  TYPES 
IBM  UNIT  RECORD  -  ALL  TYPES  AVAILABLE 


BUY  -  SELL- LEASE -TRADE 


LONGHORN  COMPUTER  LEASING  CORP. 


Don  t  Make  One  Without  Calling  Us 

1.  No  one  (except  IBM)  has  a  bigger 
inventory 

2.  All  types— instant  delivery 

3.  Reconditioned,  as  is,  or  certified  for 
IBM  M.  A. 

BUY.  SELL.  SWAP 

Call  Warner  Rivera  at  (212)  557-3712 


IBM  360-370  ] 
SYSTEM-3  i 
PERIPHERALS  i 


dataserv  equipment  inc. 


buy-  sell  -lease-J/360-*/370 

WE  WANT  TO  BUY  A  50 


For  Fall  Delivery 
Check  Our  Price 
II  the  Brokerage  Division  at: 


(312|  671-4410 

dearborn 


mCOMPUTERWMLD 


IBM  UNIT  RECORD  EQUIPMENT  IBM  COMPUTE 


370/155  S/N  10756  Sept. 

370/145  S/N  10682  July 
370/155  S/N  10392  Oct. 

370/145  S/N  10551  Aug. 

LEASING: 

370/155  11.5  MB  1-yr.  lease  I  mmedi  370/165 

BUYING: 

360/65  360/50 


SYSTEM/3 
360/20 


BUY  •  SELL  •  LEASE 


WANTEI 


IBM  360/65 


360-370 

market  place 

BUY  SELL  LEASE 

1^;;  ■!'  I 


DATA  ENTRY  SALE 

RECONDITIONDED  MACHINES 


029  As  Low  As  1 

Lear  Siegler  (NCW) 

Decwriter-TWX-Telex  A 

Teletype  ASR  33 

Teletype  ASR  35  1, 

We  Buy-Sell-Rent  Teletypes,  TWX,  Telex, 
Terminals  and  Punch  Card  Equipment 

DATA  RENTALS/SALES  INC. 


AVAILABLE  IMMEDIATELY 
FOR  LEASE  OR  SALE 

IBM  370/165 

WITH  OR  WITHOUT  DAT  FACILITY  LEASE  FOR  6  MONTHS  TO  6  YEARS 

SERIAL  #60163 

WANTED  TO  BUY:  IBM  370/155 

^  THOMAS  COMpUTCR  CORPORATION  S9 

11  600 Mcclutq court  suiEiaor  ■■ 

BB  chicAqO,iUiNOH  tOMI  (Jt2)*i4M01  ES 


MEMBER  COMPUTER  DEALERS  ASSOCIATION 


WANTED  TO  BUY 


Can  adjust  to  any  configuration 


AVAILABLE  For  |ease  owner 
Oct.  1,  1975 

Please  reply  to:  3  year  ~  $42,000/mo 
Computer  Language  4  V™  ~  38.500/mO 
”«larch-  '"c-  5  year  -  37,500/mo 


370/145-HG 

#10687 

SALE  or  LEASE 


•  ANY  Lease  Term 

•  WITHOUT  Residual  Obligatioi 

•  UPGRADES  Available 


SUTTON  COMPUTER  CORP. 
Suite  1030 
825-Third  Avenue 
New  York,  N.Y.  10022 
(212)  832-1480 


U  U  SI 

m:u\  Kin 


iE!  COMPUTER  WORLD 


computer 


|  MAI  Earnings  Grow  315%  in  Half  Year  Itel  on  Target  I 

NEW  YORK  -  Management  last  year's  record  results.  credit  was  1474,000  PBANrisro 

Assistance,  Inc.  (MAI)  reported  Earnings  for  the  six  months  Revenues  rose  25%  to  $44.8  SAN  hKANCIhl.U 

'  and  revenues  for  rose  315%  to  $2.1  million  or  7  million  compared  with  *35.9  Undeterred  by  the  lack  of 


diately.  Sophisticated  data  prepara¬ 
tion.  keyboarding  and  keypunching 

Revenues  Rise  While  Earnings  Slip  JSTS-iTS 

Revenues  rose  to  *38.2  mil¬ 
lion  compared  with  $29.4 

facility  enable  us  to  save  you  10  to 
35%  on  your  present  data  entry 
costs.  Call  us.  today! 

ln  Graham  Magnetics  Nine  Months 

million  in  the  year-ago  period 
while  earnings  increased  to 
$2.1  million  or  22  cents  a 

Flmacoinc 

230  West  Washington  Square 
Philadelphia,  Pa.  19106 

GRAHAM,  Texas  Tape-  according  to  G.A.  Jaggers,  ago.  In  the  six  months,  sales 
maker  Graham  Magnetics,  Inc.  Graham  president.  totaled  *19.3  million  compared 

share. 

This  compares  with  $2.07 
million  or  21  cents  a  share  in 

215/923-1930  •  609/366-5198 

saies  but  lower  earnings  com-  not  considered  as  indicating  a  1974  period. 

pared  with  a  year  ago.  trend.  New  products  are  ex-  J  ju  # 

Earnings  slipped  to  $830,793  pected  soon  to  push  sales  higher,  wfCynOUnU  If  Cl  l/Uffll 
or  88  cents  a  share  compared  with  accompanying  impact  on  ■ 

the  year-ago  period,  when 
there  was  a  $150,000  tax 
credit. 

■  NMAUJ  ■ 

U  i  '  I^H 

with  $920,154  or  98  cents  a  earnings,"  he  added.  IffOU fl/l  K eVefllieS  Peflfc  r 

share  in  the  same  1974  period.  ■_  nn  If 

Revenues  grew  to  $11.9  mU-  SV COT  RfiSU ItS  UD  PHOENIX  -  Despite  record 

lion  compared  with  $11.2  mil-  *  r  first-quarter  revenues,  Grey- 

lion  in  the  same  quarter  last  ANN  ARBOR,  Mich.  -  Sycor,  hound  Computer  Corp.’s  earn- 

AUSTRALIA 

Authentic  information  is  free¬ 
ly  available  WITHOUT 

1333  LPM  PRINTER 

OFF  LINE  DATAPRODUCTS  4000 

SATELLITE  PRINT  STATIONS 
START  AT  $11,000 

AMERICAN  USED  COMPUTER  CORP 

Box  68  Kenmore  Sta.  Boston,  Ma.  02215  617-261-1100 

Member  Computer  Dealers  Association 


FOR  CREDIT  BUREAUS  ONLY 


Autocoder/COBOL 

Translation 


ZcyN  Corporation 


Diablo  Systems,  Inc. 

■  William  E.  McKenm 
been  elected  to  the  bos 
directors  of  Mohawk  Dat 


June  25,  1975 


MCOMPinawwLP 


Page  47 


Earnings  Reports 


Computerworld 
Sales  Offices 


Vice  President  -  Marketing 
Neal  Wilder 
Sales  Administrator: 

Dottie  Travis 
COMPUTERWORLD 
797  Washington  Street 
Newton,  Mass.  02160 
Phone:  (617)  965-5800 
Telex:  USA-92-2529 
Northern  Regional  Manager 
Robert  Ziegel 
Account  Manager 
Mike  Burman 
COMPUTERWORLD 
797  Washington  Street 
Newton,  Mass.  02160  , 

Phone:  (617)  965-5800 
Telex:  USA-92-2529 
Eastern  Regional  Manager 
Donald  E.  Fagan 
Account  Manager 
Frank  Gallo 
COMPUTERWORLD 
2125  Center  Avenue 
Fort  Lee,  N.J.  07024 
Phone:  (201)461-2575 


Western  Regional  Manager: 

Bill  Healey 
1212  Hearst  Bldg. 

San  Francisco,  Calif.  94103 
Phone:  (415)  495-0990 
Japan: 

Ken  Suzuki 
General  Manager 
Dempa/Computerworld 
1-11-15  Higashi  Gotanda 
Shinagawa-ku,  Tokyo  141 
Phone:  (03)  445-6101 
Telex:  Japan-26792 
United  Kingdom: 
Michael  Young 

Computerworld  Publishing  Ltd. 
140-146  Camden  Street 
London  NW1  9PF,  England 
Phone:  (01 )  485-2248 
Telex:  UK-26-47-37 
West  Germany: 

Otmar  Weber 
Computerworld  GmbH 
8000  Munich  40 
Tristanstrasse  11 
West  Germany 
Phone:  (089)  36-40-36 
Telex:  W.Ger-5-215350-HKFD 


1  112(  21  1  13  2(  21  3  11  11  24  1  (  IS  22  2(  5  12  IS 


Co m p  u  terworld iMStock  Trading  Su m m a ry 


DEFROSTER 


Our  hot  new  sort 
is  melting  IBM’s 
ICEMAN  program 
down  to  size! 

(SyncSort  lll-and-a-half  vs.  PEER.] 

|  Call  (201)  947-8500 
/and  we’ll  prove  it. 

Ask  about  our  free 
six-step  sorting  survey: 

1.  Technical  presentation 
in  your  office. 

2.  Sort-load  analysis. 

3.  Test  outline. 

4.  On-site  demonstration. 

5.  Tabulation  of  results. 

6.  30-day  trial  period. 


COMPUTER  SYSTEMS  Inc. 


We  didn't  originally  intend  to  put  the  blowtorch  to  our 
large  competitor’s  sort  package.  But  as  things  have  work¬ 
ed  out,  ICEMAN  or  PEER,  call  it  what  you  will,  is  growing 
a  little  slushy  under  the  heat  of  competition  generated  by 
our  SyncSort  lll-and-half. 

More  and  more  users  are  beginning  to  realize  that  our 
package  is  the  best  and  most  comprehensive  sort  avail¬ 
able  —  for  either  OS  or  VS  systems. 

We’d  like  to  prove  that  fact  to  you.  If  you’ll  give  us  a  ring, 
we’ll  let  you  in  on  some  eye-opening  test  results.  We 
think  they’ll  convince  you  that  (1)  SyncSort  lll-and-half 
can  do  more  than  ICEMAN/ PEER  at  (2)  less  expenditure 
of  systems  resources.  Here’s  how: 

•  SyncSort  saves  machine  resoures.  In  a  nose-to-nose 
confrontation  with  PEER,  SyncSort  will  give  you  savings 
in  all  these  categories: 

•  Elapsed  time  — up  to  35%. 

•  CPU  time  —  up  to  20%  in  the  problem  state;  up  to 

1 5%  in  the  supervisor  state. 

•  I/O  resources  —  up  to  40% . 

•  Disk-space  capacity  —  up  to  100%  more  records. 
Excessive  use  of  machine  resources  may  not  concern 
you  if  you  operate  in  a  stand-alone  environment.  But  if 
you’re  into  multi-programming,  excessive  machine  use 
can  have  a  crucial  effect  on  the  performance  of 
background  jobs  competing  with  the  sorting  function 
for  these  resources. 

•  SyncSort  saves  human  resources.  It  doesn’t  require 
you  to  spend  time  developing  sorting  expertise.  If  you 
don’t  know  the  exact  characteristics  of  your  input,  don’t 
worry!  SyncSort  will  accommodate  automatically  and 
find  the  most  efficient  sorting  environment.  (PEER  is  not 
so  accommodating.) 

SyncSort  doesn't  neglect  OS  systems  either.  It  works 
equally  well  in  OS  or  VS  without  conversion.  (PEER  is 
for  VS  only.) 

With  SyncSort  you  get  all  these  features: 

•  Secondary  allocation  without  inclusion  in  JCL. 

•  Release  of  excess  space  without  inclusion  in  JCL. 

•  Non-contiguous  work  space. 

•  Re-entrant  code. 

•  In-core  and  turnaround  sorts. 

•  Direct  communication  with  an  invoked  sort. 

•  SYNCSIM  for  resource  simulation. 

•  HISTOGRM  for  characteristics  of  variable-length 

sorts. 

•  SORTSTAT  —  a  sort-tuning  tool. 

•  SORT  AUDIT  SYSTEM  -  to  help  you  set  and 

monitor  installation  standards. 

Call  us  —  (201)  947-8500  —  and  we’ll  tell  you  what 
SyncSort  can  do  for  you.  We’ll  also  be  glad  to  arrange 
an  SMF  analysis  to  determine  the  characteristics  of 
your  sorts.  It  won’t  cost  you  a  cent  in  time  or  money. 


S.  Marginal  Road,  Fort  Lee,  New  Jersey  07024